Monday and Meat Eaters

Mondays, typically, we clean and play. After a weekend of whirling out the door P wants his toys and the house wants a good once over. First thing he did Monday was pull out Every animal he owns for a parade, as seen above. This, of course, is essential to a good house cleaning. But I've noticed a real change of late on these days. Before, he would get very frustrated if I suggested I leave the parade grounds to make breakfast and wash the dishes. Now, he will often run after me to continue his story or even, occasionally, stay at his play parade by Himself. Even more wonderful, when I suggest that I leave the monster truck rally to pick up a little bit he often runs along side me and hurriedly picks up the house. When he thinks things look nice (trucks dumped in one corner sure, but generally getting things in the right place) he says "Now you can plaaaaay!!!!" He's getting things figured out :)

I really saw unschooling in action yesterday morning. Innocent P, not yet programmed to think of learning as anything separate from just good ol' life livin', was thirsting for information while parade planning. He loves to hear about an animal's habitat and diet. He picked up his brown bear and announced that "this is a bear. It eats sam." (E had told him a story about a salmon eating bear just last week and he remembered the details, mostly :)) As I made breakfast he ran in to ask about his Tapir. He knows all of the names, many of the habitats, so now he's working on the diets. He wanted me to look up what a Tapir eats "on the 'puter." So out came wikipedia and we discovered his favorite tapir facts : they only have one pair of neenee's, the baby tapir's coloring is totally different with pretty spots and stripes, and they are vegetarian grazers who love berries and such. When I read this tidbit he actually cheered and pumped his little fists in the air shouting "Like us!"

You'd think we had baptized the kid at a Peta party or something. The subject is something P has been stuck on for a while now, despite our hardy avoidance. Sitting down to breakfast with my folks one morning P saw my dad with a piece of bacon. "You eat pig?" After an affirmative he had one word for my father. "Why?" And like my poor sideswiped father that morning, we have yet to answer this question to his satisfaction.

So back at the parade, he asked why his arctic wolf eats meat. I told him they didn't' have grocery stores with hummus and tomatoes and their bodies evolved on a meat diet. Do you see the conundrum? "What's evolve mama?" Then he asked, again, "Why do some people eat meat?" "Well, P, some people eat meat, some don't." "No, mama. Them not supposed to eat meat. Animals no like that. They no want to die. They Can't. Eat. Meat." And he stomped his little foot. He'd never expressed this sentiment so strongly before. The first time it arose he had just turned 2 and the neighbors downstairs were cooking fish for dinner. He asked what the smell was and I told him fish. He asked what the fish was doing and I told him Kate was cooking it for dinner. He looked shocked and said "fish no like that very much." I bust a gut on that one. But I wasn't' laughing yesterday. He actually had tears in his eyes and I remembered how black and white the world is as a child. Your father is the strongest, your dog the cutest, and your mom the best cook. And that's as simple as that. Animals don't want to die so you Can't Eat Them. Ahhh how morally righteous the young are ... right until they kick the cat.

Its not that we don't want him to choose a vegetarian lifestyle, or that we don't on some level agree with him. I'm just surprised that he's chosen it so young. We have never said anything to him about it. Not eating meat speaks volumes to him I'm sure, but we don't kick the cat either and that hasn't exactly rubbed off on him. I think children's lit has to share the burden of his strong emotion. All of those books with those sweet talking cows and pigs. Who wants to eat the Duck who's truck was stuck in the muck? (Great book by the way) All of that anthropomorphizing is bound to cause some confusion in a young mind.

So there was a full unschooling journey before our bagel was eaten. I'm not a huge fact lover (trivia floats right out of my head and I figure that's what wikipedia is for) but learning tidbits feels like a traditional education and my schooled brain does adore his growing stockpile. And magically mixed in with the minutiae was the big picture. The stuff school doesn't' usually have time for. Unstructured play and free thought.

Later we made a swing out of his old baby wrap. When he lays in it, as above, it is his hammock. He can also sit up and swing in the normal fashion. While I was making lunch he discovered his new favorite way to ride in his hammock. He puts his belly in the middle and twirls to twist it tight above his head. When he picks up his feet it unwinds, spinning him silly. This, he loved! Today he tried standing on his hammock and that ended, very, very badly, but that is another post for another time.