When children teach me to sew a duck

I spent half a year in a Waldorf kindergarten in Madrid as part of my ESC. It was a very small kindergarten with a total of 25 children aged from ten months to seven years. At the beginning I was surprised that there were no groups for the different ages of the children. From my kindergarten days, I was used to older children already being allowed more than younger ones. At the beginning I was afraid of a bad group dynamic because of the age differences.

My doubts were completely unfounded.

I have never seen so many children with so few disputes in one spot. The older children helped the younger ones when they had problems tying their shoes, for example. Children aged three, five and seven took part in the same games, and from 11 to 12 there was a quiet period where each child, sometimes even me, had the opportunity to read something, listen to music or sleep.
I was really amazed that it worked so well.

Sewing a duck

One day, a child brought old fabrics and felt to the kindergarten. We didn’t think twice and made it a sewing day. I have to say that I am really not gifted when it comes to knitting, crocheting or sewing. At first I tried to use an excuse to avoid having to sew something too, but the children wouldn’t let me. We had the task of sewing our favourite animal. I was really terrible at it, and to be honest I didn’t enjoy it at all until one of the children noticed.
Alba, a six-year-old girl, was so talented with a needle and thread that she slowly explained to me, step by step, how to sew a duck.
I would never have imagined it, but in the end I actually sewed a plush duck. And all thanks to a six-year-old girl from my kindergarten.

Age often really doesn’t matter.