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Date
Thu, 02/26/2009

Taking the Long View, by Nancy Carlsson-Paige:

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Recently our extended family, which included several of my grand children, took a trip together.  I delighted in spending time with all the children, and got to know five-year-old Antonio, one of the cousins, much better over the two weeks we were together. 

One evening when we were getting ready for a big family party, Antonio's mom told him it was time to take a shower.  Antonio dove under my bed and would not come out.  He got himself into the center of the floor under the queen-sized bed where no one could reach him, and he kept saying, "I want to take a bath."  Antonio's mom explained that there was no bathtub in the house we were staying in, just a shower.  Antonio refused to come out and kept repeating, "I want a bath." We all coaxed and cajoled Antonio for quite some time.  I tried to put things in concrete, sequential terms to help him understand:  "The party is starting, people are going to come to the door and we aren't ready to open it.  First you need to take a shower and put clothes on."  After some time, Antonio emerged from under the bed and headed toward the shower with his understandably exasperated mom.


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