One of my favourite people sat on a rug and talked for half an hour to himself. So I thought. Then I realized Oliver was nattering to his friends – a book, a plastic collandar, a polar bear and a rattle. He moved them around while talking to them. Perhaps they talked back but my hearing isn’t all that good, and more importantly, I don’t understand his language.
You will have gathered that Oliver is my grandson, not yet 9 months old. I’d love to know what is in his head when he plays like that. Raw thoughts and emotions? Almost seems a shame that we try to teach him English, or any formal language. Will he then lose the concepts he now uses with his friends?
Wordsworth once said in verse ‘The child is father of the Man.’ He knew something…
