We Learned It All in Kindergarten

When Mommy D showed me this photo of our little Theo (with a small bump on his head) holding hands with his friend Souta-kun, I was immediately reminded of this piece by Robert Fulghum:

We Learned It All in Kindergarten

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain; it was right there in the sandbox on the playground.

These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt someone. Wash your hands before lunch. Learn some and think some, and draw and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.

Take a nap in the afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up, and nobody really knows why.

Think of what a better world this would be if we all had milk and cookies about one o'clock in the afternoon and lay down with our blankets for a nap. Imagine if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations always to put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into this world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

A few more snapshots:


Theo prepares to enter school. He has just removed his shoes and is ready to put them in his box.




Theo proudly shows the letter H, which he had just written.


This is a typical example of what's inside Theo's lunch box, courtesy of Mommy D. Hmmm....yummy...


This photo was taken just this afternoon somewhere in Akihabara. Theo danced in the middle of the street without any inhibitions. Wherever and whenever he hears loud disco music, his body immediately moves to the beat, and he becomes one with the music. Recall that while he was still in Mommy D's womb, we made him listen to classical music almost everyday.


There was a park nearby, and this is what he does best: play!