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Monday, June 16, 2008

Patience is a virtue

I've noticed lately that little Ellie doesn't have a lot of patience. Not that I really expect a young toddler to be patient for everything. That's unreasonable. However, the one that has me somewhat concerned is that she doesn't really have much patience for puzzle-type toys. There are two toys that come to mind when I say this.

First, the shape box. I'm sure you know the type of toy. Four different shapes, four corresponding holes. Ellie has finally gotten to the point where she understands that the shapes go into the holes (instead of just in and out of the box. However, when she tries to put a square into the circle hole, she starts to complain instantly because it won't fit. Now this makes sense to me. However, if she tries to put the square into the square hole, only slightly skewed, she also complains. She doesn't take a moment to try to realign the shape.

Similarly, with her stacking cups. She understands that they stack, but if she tries to stick the big one inside the little one, she gets pissed off that the laws of physics get in her way.

I am sure it's some sort of stage in her development. Afterall it did take a while for her to even understand the basic concept of the toys in the first place, but I do worry that she isn't interested in solving puzzles just because she doesn't have the patience to try new options. Is that a personality thing or a development thing?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a good question -- if you hear from other moms, can you post what they say as a followup? I'd be interested in learning more.

Niffer said...

Will do.

Niffer said...

I don't know if you would check back on this post or not, but let me know if you do.

I found out that it's definitely a development thing. I asked her daycare teacher (we love Ana) and she says that the concept of being able to effect the outcome of something (such as rotating a shape to fit it into a hole) just doesn't occur to them for a while. They are just beginning to learn that they can affect things in multiple ways themselves. Interesting.