Seth time

Seth and I had some fun learning time together while Jonathan was at school and Luke was sleeping. We had some "Opposites" picture cards with the words on the back. He was pairing the opposites, (which is quite a complex concept if you've never heard the word "opposite" before,) and then we'd turn the cards over and he would identify the words on the back. I'd say, "Which one says 'front?' "Which one says 'empty?'" He got it right every time. Smart kid.

After he found the opposites, he decided to put the matching cards back to back and lay them down with one side showing. I started realizing that he consistently chose to display the positive one of the pair; full not empty, front not back, above not below, go not stop, light not dark, in front not behind, top not bottom, whole not broken, day not night, clean not dirty, happy not sad, etc. I thought that was interesting. The only exceptions were when he preferred something else, like a short pencil rather than a long one, or a small ball rather than a big one. Who knows, maybe short and small are fundamentally more desirable, and prosperity has just taught me to think otherwise. Maybe three year olds know better. . . (He also chose the picture of the TV off rather than it being on.) :)

The cool thing to me was that he prefers the positive of the two opposites, and consistently chose that. Three year olds like things to be positive, and he innately knew which one that was. I'm amazed that he knew that. I'm amazed that any of us know that. What is it about top that makes it better than bottom? Or about in front that makes it better than behind? Or above than below? Maybe these values are different from culture to culture. But for Seth it was pretty clear, and it matched what I thought too. Pretty interesting.