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kids make clear how awkwardness actually works and how much skill it takes to have fluid social interactions because they don't have it yet and they are trying their damn hardest to make it work https://t.co/rih8KV8YZM
like i'll watch 3yos have these stilted scripts. they're playing, one says, "let's move the chairs outside", "move the what?" "the chairs" "go outside?" "no the chairs" "oh the CHAIWWWS" and then they move the chairs outside. they are trying their damn hardest to listen
or then one will be trying to get the other to drink tea, and he says "no you can't drink tea from that", "okay it's water", "no that's not a water cup" "okay it's poison" "no it's not poison" and eventually the kid goes, "wow, it sure is rainy today" [ah yes, topic takes]
they're trying to continue the conversation in any way possible. they don't want the play to end. adults do this all the time, they handle situations like this gracefully. but 3yos are just figuring out how to do that
there are so many micro-skills, like how to take suggestions from other people, how to even focus on things other people said (younger kids struggle!), how to flexibly react to things other people want vs what you want, how to join in play, notice what people are doing
in fact, we sometimes need to teach adults these skills, and we call it improv classes but when kids are engaging in collective play, that's what they're doing. learning to improv with each other, all the damn time. keep the play going https://t.co/gnOkg6qK4t
which brings me to nerds what happens when a nerdy kid is deprived of these environments where they are flexibly figuring out how to play with each other? at a time when no one is very good, and they are all making mistakes
what happens when you didn't go out drinking freshman year, with the other freshman who also don't know how to do it, and now you're behind but no one else is helping you figure out the micro-stuck interactions where you don't totally know how to be fluid with each other
are kind of awkward, clingy, discovering, new, etc. well, you go to vibecamp of course 😛 https://t.co/6E3av9uXYM
fluid social interactions are absolutely a skill it's true that safe-feeling bodies learn a lot better. but it is still a skill it is not easy, nor is it trivial, to interact with a whole 'nother hunkering body, having its whole other different experience
it takes skill, and this is what childhood (and for others of us, adulthood) is for https://t.co/T3zXTb3MxX
trust me, if adults were having the kinds of conversations these 3yos have, they would be the most mega-awkward adults ever if you ever feel bad about how awkward you are, just watch some 3yos try to play together and think about the fact you probably didn't have that experience