Living Museum of Learning
What Did I Just Do?
Rhea stood in front of a raw, thick wall that was higher than she was.
There were no playground handholds designed for a child. No obvious easy route to the top.
She tried.
Her first attempt looked almost like a little frog jumping at the wall.
She failed.
She tried again.
Failed again.
Then Rhea turned around and looked at Mommy.
An asked, "Are you OK, Rhea?"
Rhea didn't answer.
She turned back toward the wall.
The third attempt was different.
Rhea held the front edge firmly. Her feet helped as much as they could.
Then, suddenly, one hand reached the other edge on top of the wall.
That changed everything.
The hand became an anchor.
Rhea pulled harder.
Slowly, she moved upward.
Once she reached the top, she didn't simply fall over it. She carefully rearranged her body until she could sit safely on the wall.
She had made it.
Rhea sat there, panting.
Then she smiled at Mommy.
It was a smile An had never seen before.
Her mouth was half open. Her tongue showed a little. She looked almost frozen in surprise.
It was as if her face was asking:
"What did I just do?"
Rhea had solved a physical problem before she had words to explain the solution.
And Mommy knew what had happened.
"Rhea, wow. Do you know what you just did? It's very impressive..."
The achievement became real not only when Rhea reached the top, but when someone helped her recognize it.
The remarkable part was not simply that Rhea climbed higher than herself.
She tried, failed, tried again, changed nothing verbally, but changed something physically, discovered an anchor, and completed the climb.
Her body experimented with the problem.
Failure did not end the experiment.
The third attempt produced a new possibility.
At the top, Rhea seemed almost as surprised as everyone watching her.
Sometimes a child discovers a new ability before she even knows that ability exists.
And sometimes the first person who tells her what just happened is Mommy.
A failed attempt can contain the information needed for a successful one.
Try, observe, adjust, find a new point of leverage, and try again.
Children sometimes discover their own capabilities before they have the words to understand them.