I had a funny experience with my girls today. Anna is nearly four and Katie is now one. (Holy cow how the time flies!) Anna had been at preschool earlier today and made stop and go signs. She learned a fun game at preschool that she really wanted to play. Hold up a sign and the people you are playing with do what the sign says. (So if you hold up go they walk towards you and if you hold up stop they stop. Then whoever gets to you first takes the signs and is 'it' and the game starts over.)
Anna really wanted to play the new game, but mommy was busy. She was trying to teach Katie the game. Katie is only just barely one (well, technically will be one tomorrow) and so is more in the eat-the-sign stage rather than the follow-the-directions-on-the-sign stage. I'm not sure exactly what Katie was doing with the signs (I assume either just being content to hold them or else chewing on them...) but it was NOT the game Anna was trying to teach her.
In frustration, Anna blurted out the funniest tattling I have ever heard. "Mommy!! Katie isn't learning! TELL HER TO LEARN!!" I did my best to suppress the laughing and instead comforted Anna that Katie was too little to play the game, but maybe Anna could find a different game to play with Katie. I then promised to play the game with her later. Anna found something else to do with Katie, and then in a few minutes we put Katie down for a nap and went outside to play the game Anna had wanted to play so badly.
I love this experience just because the tattling was so funny. But I wonder how often our frustrations with people (or ourselves) is actually a result of the person we are frustrated with simply not being at the correct stage of life to truly understand something we want them to. For example, I may be able to communicate what I want to a friend who is the same age I am. That doesn't automatically put that friend in the same stage of life. Maybe my friend had a different school experience, a different atmosphere growing up, different life experiences. Maybe she would understand something I wouldn't. Maybe we think we both understand but both are taking a completely different view of something.
Just something to think about. Rather than getting frustrated with people, maybe we could all think about what stage of the game they are in. Just because they can do a lot of things we can doesn't mean they are not in the eat-the-sign stage in that particular thing. Maybe if we are patient with others, they will return the favor and be patient with us. After all, we all want to eat the sign at some point in life. :)
