Mean snowman on top (he has claws and is laughing), scared snowman on bottom (he’s covering his eyes with his hands)

Sad snowman on the left, happy snowman on the right

Two of the most influential questions to ask littleuns as they start figuring out the basics of cause & effect:

1. Who did this?

2. How are you going to fix this?

I’ve found this helps teach fundamental concepts that need to stick with them as they grow up – accountability and responsibility.

As they answer the questions, they come to realise that they own the problem, and they have to figure out how to recover from their mistakes.

If done gently they will learn that making mistakes isn’t the end of the world, and that will lead to more honesty as they trust your reactions.

This comes not from doing it right as a parent, but from my mistakes I’ve made as a parent!

Grandboy: “Gwumpa gwumpa come quickly come quickly they’re falling they’re falling hurry come look!!”

Me: “They’re falling? Where? Are they falling in love?”

Grandboy: “No they’re falling into the crocodiles :-[ ”

Me: “Oh well that’s kind of the same thing then. Let’s see what we can do.”

Looking at a child’s scribbles is sometimes like looking at a 2-dimensional snapshot of a 4th-dimensional scene recorded over a span of time. In many cases, you aren’t seeing a static image but an entire story, from start to finish, in one frame. Gives you a different perspective on a child’s drawings if you think of it this way.

I was witness to the birth of these as the artist narrated what was going on…

The upper left-corner image is his family members going for a walk and then going into the family race car for a drive (every family has a family race car, right?)

The upper right corner image is a motorcycle going around a race track with increasing speed.

The bottom image is a man who is being chased by lava and isn’t very happy about it because it eventually catches up to him and gets him.