Being Present with Children, Being Enriched

“A child’s play unfolds in many layers, with multiple stories to explore, multiple meanings and questions. Play is not just about what a child is learning, but what they’re teaching us adults. A child’s play can remind us of the depth of the world we live in.” So begins Misa Okayama's Making Adjustments, the newest book in the Reimagining Our Work (ROW) series.

Later in the book, Okayama shares, "I believe this is one of children’s human rights: the right to be seen. The right to be who they are, fully living their lives. To be nurtured as who they are now, because that soul is their soul through their lives: Mitsugo no tamashii hyaku made. When we enact this human right for children, we enrich our own souls, too. It lifts us out of the confined roles of educators, and asks us to see another person from the perspective of a fellow human being. We encounter the many colorful ways that people can be, rather than relating to children through a narrow lens of ‘learning goals’ or ‘school readiness.’ And this nurtures our growth, too. When we are present, human to human, we can let our souls be seen, too."

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