As she walked the turnaround shadows of leaves played on her hair. Around the first corner she skirted the mud puddle. Around the second corner she looked up at the giant paper birch. She followed the driveway all two hundred yards of its length, winding through the woods. She walked with a purpose, almost marching. When she came to the place where the driveway meets the main road that goes around the lake, she looked to the right and looked to the left. Then, she turned around and started home again.
When she got back to the house, she went back to her toys as if nothing special had happened and, still, as if I weren’t even there. She did not come running up to me to let me welcome her home. She did not tell me about her adventure. It was something she did, and it was complete.
What inspired this adventure? I don’t know, but I have learned to trust it. In fact I know that trusting that something is the bedrock of all effective work with children—and for that matter, all people. The ancient Greeks called it kharakter; the Romans called it genius; a great science teacher I know called it “the teacher within.” It goes by many names, and we all have it. I have learned that looking for it, encouraging it, and letting it work its way out into the world is the secret of education.
Brooke didn’t get into trouble on her walk, but that is not the norm. Often there is trouble. Life necessarily presents our children with dozens of challenges a day. In fact, guided by their genius children often bring difficulty on themselves. They get notions, they set goals, they design paths toward these goals, they take risks. These challenges are the engines of growth; their goals represent how they need to develop at the moment.
Missteps, mishaps, mistakes on this journey are vital to growing up strong. If their true genius is engaged, the trouble can strengthen them, and the child will often persist through failure. We should not (and cannot) protect them from setbacks, conflict, disappointment, and loss. When they fall, we need to help them bounce.
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