The Drama Behind Babysitting
An immersive study on active learning
The thing that I envy the most in children is the way they are able to live in an imaginary world. It is a world where they live by the principle that impossibility is possible!
For Example
A babysitter and a five year old girl cross the threshold into a trampoline. This play thing has now become a stage, the little girl a woman, and the babysitter a horse. This is not a joke, there is no punchline. The story goes like this: first, the babysitter allows the child to teach her a game reserved for playing on the trampoline.
“Deadman, deadman, come alive, once I count to five”.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, come alive!”
The “deadman”, who is laying in the middle of the trampoline with their eyes closed, “comes alive”, springing up, eyes still closed, in an attempt to touch the other player.
The babysitter is at first reluctant to participate, thinking the premise of the play is too serious for their taste. Taking the time to sniff out another human without being able to see? Yeah, no thanks, too much work.
Then the babysitter realizes she is not babysitting, she is playing. She is playing with someone who thinks like her, but lets herself be bigger.
The Transformative Power of Playing
The babysitter, finally realizing the possibility of this interaction, picks the child up. Here is where the magic lies. The child, who before was happy, is now overjoyed. She is no longer a child, she is woman. She is woman because she is riding a horse.
To work. To the store. That way. That way. That way.
The child points and the babysitter jumps. The child squeals and the babysitter jumps. The child feels as if she is going somewhere, and the babysitter jumps, thinking to herself; “I am carrying a child, jumping in circles on a trampoline, and you, you are riding a horse”.
Rebirth, As It Pertains To The Babysitter
The babysitter can not carry this child forever. But how does a horse tell its owner that it’s time for bed?
The babysitter may fall to the floor on more than one occasion, refusing to get up. The child will look at this spectacle and order the babysitter to get up. They will ask the “deadman” to “come alive” just one more time. The babysitter will drop to the base of the trampoline after coming alive once more and, using the child’s excited squeals as fuel, prove to herself that she is able to come alive, again and again and again.
Rest, As It Pertains To Both Parties
The five year old child is at a comfortable time in their life. They do not have to fret over the responsibilities of adulthood. Because of this, they work by playing. Because of this, they never want to rest.
The babysitter is suffocated by the energy of this child and must put the game of horsey to rest by effectively communicating that the horse is dead.
Rebirth, As It Pertains to the Five-Year-Old Child
When the babysitter effectively communicates that the horse has died, the child understands that it is time to play another game.
The child leads the babysitter back across the threshold they crossed some time ago. They return to reality.
This return is brief, for their next mission is decorating a Christmas tree (in October) for Santa (who isn’t “real”).
The only difference is that in this game, there are no owners. The child; a mother, the babysitter; a daughter.
