Kindle Notes & Highlights
“When is the proper time for a child to start walking?” Korczak asks in these pages. “When she does. When should her teeth start cutting? When they do. How many hours should a baby sleep? As long as she needs to.”
I WANT EVERYONE to understand that no book and no doctor is a substitute for one’s own sensitive contemplation and careful observations. Books with their ready-made formulas have dulled our vision and slackened the mind. Living by other people’s experiences, research, and opinions, we have lost our self-confidence and we fail to observe things for ourselves.
this reminds me of richard feynmann
KNOW YOURSELF before you attempt to get to know children. Become aware of what you yourself are capable of before you attempt to outline the rights and responsibilities of children. First and foremost you must realize that you, too, are a child, whom you must first get to know, bring up, and educate.
JUST REMEMBER: When is the proper time for a child to start walking? When she does. When should her teeth start cutting? When they do. How many hours should a baby sleep? As long as she needs to.
One must be careful not to confuse a good child with an easy one.
when tomorrow finally does arrive, we start waiting for the next tomorrow.
A POET IS SOMEONE who is very happy and very sad, who is quick to anger and who loves intensely, who feels strongly. Children are like that, too. A philosopher is someone who is very observant, who ponders and wants to know how things really are. Children are like that, too.
THE CHILD MUST be seen as a foreigner who does not speak our language and who is ignorant of the laws and customs. Occasionally he likes to go sightseeing on his own and when lost will ask for information and advice. Wanted—a guide to answer questions politely and patiently. Treat his ignorance with respect.
To study in order to know? No. To study in order to know more? No. I think it is to study in order to ask more and more questions.
‘When everyone acts inhuman, what should a man do?’ their reply was ‘He should act more human.’”
