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Go Look It Up – May 2, 2006
I was in a home
recently where a curious eight-year-old, delighted with the warm spring
weather, kept bouncing into the house and asking questions about various
flora and fauna. Mom, a trained botanist, refused to answer any of the
questions. Instead, she told the child to “go look it up”. I wanted so
badly to ask the mother if that is that how she would answer another
adult who asked her a question. She probably thought she was encouraging
independence or the learning of research skills. Instead, she frustrated
and bewildered a child who had an immediate need to know something that
she knew her mom already knew. Later, the woman compounded the problem
by quizzing the child to see if she had, indeed, looked it up. The child
sullenly refused to respond, perhaps, once again, because she knew her
mother knew the answer to the question.
Posted:
2006/05/02 5:27 PM
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