i do think children tend to like me & learn from me bc i have a personality & interests around them. like u have 2 strike a balance & be aware of their age + maturity level & keep their social + emotional + cognitive development at the forefront of ur mind ofc but saying "i like this thing even if u don't" and "im doing this for myself not for you" can lead to positive outcomes. today i sat on the grass by myself with a book about earthquakes and volcanoes aimed at children much older than the preschoolers & soon one of them approached me to ask "why are you reading that?" so i said "because it's interesting and i want to." ten minutes later i had a cluster of kids around me asking me what all the pictures were of & asking me to explain earthquake drills & ash clouds & tsunamis. they weren't old enough to read the text & they wouldn't have benefited from me reading something that complex aloud but they still learned something from the book bc they actively engaged w it. & they actively engaged w it bc they could see that i liked it & i didn't think it was beneath me.
children want to know what you're doing & why you're doing it & they often want to do it too. but when they try to join in they're frequently rebuffed bc u r doing Grown-Up Things & they should just go do Child Things elsewhere. or else u r doing Child Things with them but they're aware that u r in a sense "sacrificing" your time for them or doing something u don't really like for their benefit. the implication being that anything they like is beneath u & anything u like is inaccessible to them. so if u can find something u like & are interested in & welcome them wholeheartedly if they seem interested & want to join u that can really be huge for them. most things can be adapted to their developmental level. i read a book about ambulances to a group of preschoolers once & quizzed them afterwards & they had a blast. now they know what an emergency is & what number to call & who will come and help them. they don't need to be shielded from the fact that people get sick or hurt & sometimes die – they learned that there are people who will help them if they ask & that hospitals save people. & i personally think that's better for their development than treating them like they live in a different world from you with different, lesser concerns.
