A Young Aunt Learns from Her Nephew and Nieces

Bong wrote this entry, and this is Claire, her
niece. It appears she might be trying to learn
to read so she can read her Aunt Bong's work!

Imagine yourself in a classroom and the teacher brings in a baby and tells you, “Baby Ann will be your teacher for the day.”  What would be the first thought to cross your mind? Many things crossed my mind when I saw the title “My Teacher is a Baby.” I thought to myself, “Am I reading this wrong? How is this possible?” Well, it turns out that it is possible and even the littlest person can teach you a thing or two.

Even though I have no kids of my own, I became an aunt at the age of twelve. I was young myself and did not know much about taking care of newborns, but I was not afraid to care for my little nephew Tristian. I was his aunt but at the same time, my family also called me his second mom because I always babysat him when his parents were away. He trusted me to care for him, and I trusted that I would be able to take care of him the best that I could. I became his secure base.

After reading this chapter, I have come to realize that I learned a great amount from him and I know for sure that I was indeed fascinated by the things that he did. Just like the children in this chapter, I remember telling everyone that my nephew liked me and that he always smiled at me. Like I say, I was young at the time but just by looking after him, I was able to pick up cues and understand his body language.

I have to admit that this was an interesting chapter and I hope to continue reading this book. The program, Roots of Empathy, allows children to communicate, to observe, and learn from the baby. These children were so amazed by the things Baby Leah did, and being children themselves, they knew and understood her body language. Just the other day, I had my six-month-old niece Claire on the bed, and right beside her was her two-year-old cousin, Annalise. Annalise was so fascinated by Claire and every time Claire moved her hands or legs, Annalise would laugh and make faces. I turned around to look at them and laughed to myself. Just like the children in the program, Annalise was telling me what Claire was doing. At that moment, it made me think about this book and what I have read and learned from it. Even though the children were so young, it was not too early or too late for them to learn about empathy. 

Attachment is a huge factor to consider when observing a child and parent relationship. As I learned in class, a child becomes attached to the parent as they care and respond to the baby’s tender needs. The parent becomes their secure base and the person they look to when they are sad, happy, scared, hungry, etc. The children in this program were able to identify and observe how Baby Leah had cried for her mother, and as one child said, “Leah didn’t like the piggy game, but she’s happy with her mommy”(p.51). They saw how Baby Leah had pulled away from the piggy game.

This is a good way to teach empathy to children because not everyone is shown how to feel empathy toward another. Do we, as parents or teachers, teach our children to show empathy for another individual or do we show them otherwise? We can do both, but who knows. A kindergartener in the program wrote this down, and it was touching because I never imagined that someone so little could think of something so nice to say. He/She wrote “My wish for Jordan is that he can be nice to people and help them. I wish that he can help people when they are sick to get better” (p. 55). I think of the kids that I work with, along my little nephews, and I ask myself, “ Do they know what NICE means?” I envy this program because I do believe that someone as young as that kindergartener can learn by looking at the child and how the child interacts with the parents. The baby welcomes these children into her space and shares happiness with them.