Oct 26 2009
My Stomach Hurts
When children attend Kindergarten, they quickly learn new phrases. They hear their classmates use a particular phrase, then observe the response the child receives after it is spoken. They store up this knowledge in their little heads and soon try this new phrase out on their parents.
After attending preschool for a month, Zeke began to tell me “I have a headick.” I was a bit suspicious of this phrase since he only used it immediately after I asked him to do something he did not want to do. Over the course of time, he came to realize that “I have a headick” was not generating the desired response.
Therefore, he was happy to arrive at Kindergarten and discover the more powerful phrase “my stomach hurts.” Parents cannot ignore this phrase as easily as “I have a headick” for fear the child may actually throw up, or as Zeke would say, “get the throats.”
Yesterday, Zeke was at the piano playing his new practice piece with his right hand only. He is supposed to play: 1. Right hand only 2. Left hand only 3. Both hands together. However, he does not like this practice order. He would prefer to play only the right hand, so he can focus on singing along with the tune, LOUDLY.
I walked into the room and told him he also needed to play the left hand and then both hands together on the song. To this statement, he replied, “my stomach hurts.” I found it remarkable that his stomach only hurt when he had to play the left hand. So, I told him he had to play it anyway.
He started his left hand practicing, but it was not going very well. Not believing this was evidence of great pain in his stomach, I went to find reinforcements. I found Josiah and told him to go and help Zeke with his practicing. Josiah looked up at me and replied, “my stomach hurts.”
