Six Quotes About Childhood

"To a child, the process of growing
up is like climbing a rope in the
air, higher and higher, until you
disappear somewhere, incomprehensibly."
-- William Butler Yeats/ AUTOBIOGRAPHY --

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"Childhood is an invention of
comparitively modern times. In the
Middle Ages, at the beginning of
modern times and for a long time after that, children in the lower
classes were mixed with adults as soon as they were considered capable
of doing without their mothers, and
not long after a tardy weaning. They
immediately went straight into the
community of men, sharing in the work and play of their companions,
old and young alike."
-- Phillipe Aries/ CENTURIES OF
CHILDHOOD --

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"There's a feeling of peace
That's so gentle and clean,
That even the cynics are still.
When the voices of children
Are heard on the green
And laughter rolls down
From the hill."
-- James Agee/ COLLECTED POEMS --

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"The very young child does not really play 'with' other children,
although the presence of other
children may delight and stimulate
him. He plays alone or engages in
what is called 'parallel play:'
that is, he pursues his own activity
in the presence of others, without
incorporating them into his play
and without being involved in theirs."
-- Marie Winn/ TELEVISION: THE PLUG-
IN DRUG --

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"A child's emotion, when one recreates for him a picture of his
brief past, does not depend on
surprise or wonder. The child
cherishes what he already knows,
prefers what he knows, and chants it
within himself to the rhythm of a
spontaneous poetry."
-- Roger Sale/ FAIRY TALES AND AFTER

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"My child, mouth open, still sleeping,
Hears the song in the egg of a bird."
-- James Dickey --

*Tomorrow's category is HEALING.

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