I used to think that teaching children to avoid pitfalls by anticipating them wasn't that hard to do. But then that was long before I got my teaching certificate, which I assumed somehow came stamped with the words: MAJOR: wisdom, MINOR: insight.

I now know that teaching others how to avoid the "holes" in life isn't as easy as I once thought. Especially since I have become quite adept at climbing out of holes instead of avoiding them.

To simplify the concept, I usually made the following analogy. If I were to tell you that there is a 6 foot wide hole just outside the classroom door, and then ask you to go through the door, would you rush through the door without looking first? Or would you most likely open the door cautiously and check to see if you could get around the hole, jump over the hole, or think of some other way to avoid falling in?

On the other hand, suppose that no one had warned you that there was a hole on the other side of the door. What do you think would happen if you rushed through the door and suddenly found yourself facing the hole? Depending on your speed when you went through the door, the momentum could cause you to plunge into the hole before realizing what happened.

Now that I am retired, I "practice" on my grandchildren. I use my "hole" theory to help them learn to make CHOICES. At 12 and 13, they love to make plans. They expect me to ask, "do you see any 'holes' in your plans?" If both are together, I can count on one or the other to eagerly point out the hole (fallacy) in the other's plan. If neither sees any hole(s), they usually ask me if I see any. I try to teach concepts such as fact or opinion, cause and effect or syllogistic reasoning by asking them why they think their choice is "holeless."

We often spend hours of thinking time as the children conspire to find "holes" in something I propose. When they present their case, I try to respond "with I didn't think of that," or "that's very astute," or "you really looked at all the issues." My soul smiles when one jumps up to get a dictionary, encyclopedia or some other reference to prove their "hole" solution is fact-based; the older, my granddaughter, loves to print out something from the computer to prove her points.

I shall always treasure the sight of my 12 yr. old grandson lying flat on his back staring into space. Since he is not noted for inactivity for long periods of time, after about 15 minutes I asked if he was okay. He said, "I'm okay, Grandma. I was JUST TRYING TO SEE THE 'HOLE' IN SOMETHING."

©2009 Rosalie M. Taylor