I Walk Slowly But I Never Walk Backwardsl
Elbio Gottlieb
The children in the third group are trained gradually and consequently advance slowly in organized occupation. As has already been stated, organized occupation is always a definite training in self-care. Briefly then, a child is expected to be able to eat by himself as soon as he is a year old, and at the age of two years he should be able to eat without spilling anything. At the age of two and one-half years his table manners should be perfect. As soon as he reaches the second group, he is given wooden or enamel bowls and spoons and is never fed, no matter how backward he may be in learning to eat by himself. Training in table manners is infinitely easier on the creche employees and on the children than training in other types of self-care, because the children are hungry; and even little babies, especially when they have to feed themselves, can see that it is easier for them to get their food if they do as they are shown and do not spill what is given them. As in everything else, they learn by watching their teachers and each other. It is, therefore, not very remarkable that children who have had such training should be able to feed themselves before they can talk.
As has already been stated, there is always a staircase and slide in the playroom of the first and second groups. A child at two years is expected to be able to climb stairs without holding on to the banisters. (I noticed that most of them did not do this, however.) At two years and nine months, a child should be able to walk downstairs without holding on to the banisters.
At the age of one year, a child is considered backward unless he can walk indoors; however, when he is outdoors he must be pushed in carriages and sleds. At the age of two years, he should be able to walk andplay by himself in the snow; and before he is three years of age, he should be able to push a sled on which one or more children are sitting.
Outdoor recreation depends almost entirely on where the creche is located. If it be in the city, there is very little opportunity for the children to learn about plants and animals from their actual surroundings as can the children in the village and co-operative farm creches. The city children, therefore, receive special instruction in how to cross busy streets without danger to themselves, and how to play on cement playgrounds. They are also taught how to care for a garden, in order that they may observe plant life for themselves. I remember seeing the children in city creches during their outdoor walks in the fall, watching men chop wood, which is practically the only fuel used in Moscow today. Since the chopping of wood is a daily occurrence In their own homes during the wintertime, they are sometimes allowed to learn how to split wood in the basement or some suitable room of the creche. Chopping wood is by no means a regular creche occupation. I cite it only to show what the Russians think a child can learn to do before he reaches the age of three years.
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