Lake Anza in the summertime is full of people scooping water, swimming and splashing.听It鈥檚 also full of little fish.听听Though you鈥檇 think they鈥檇 know better by now, and there鈥檚 the rest of the lake to swim in, they swirl around in the designated swimming area, temptingly underfoot.听I鈥檓 watching my six year old as she wades through the water, scooping, missing, scooping, missing, her bucket coming up full of water.听Around her other children are doing the same thing. No one catches a fish. The children excitedly chat with each other, discussing technique, pointing out the minnows, taking turns with buckets.听
They laugh and scoop鈥othing.
During a snack break I ask if I can try.听My daughter loans me her bucket and with a bit of effort, there鈥檚 a silver flash and I鈥檝e got one!听I rush back to her, and for a moment children gather around to peek. Then they all go back to their snacks.
听鈥淧ut her back,鈥� my daughter says.
Surprised, I comment, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e already done looking?听After all that work hunting?鈥�
听鈥淵eah,鈥� she says.
听I dump the fish back into the lake and it darts away.
After snacks are over, the children rush back into the water to begin fishing again.听They race through the lake, dragging buckets, catching nothing. After watching them for some time, I ask my daughter, 鈥淒o you want me to catch you another fish?鈥�
鈥淣o, I want to catch one,鈥� she replies, rejoining the children in their efforts.
I go back to the sand and think about my efforts to 鈥渢each鈥� my daughter to catch a fish and her wish to do it without me taking over the game.
She reminded me about a key message we cover at our laboratory school:听give children time and space for open ended exploration and play.听听
I think about my daughter鈥檚 summer:听music lessons and swim lessons, each with an adult coaching, showing the right way to do things.听She listens, observes, imitates, practices. This is one way children and adults learn. But it is not the only way, and it is not the point of going to this lake.
At this lake no one cares if the adults can catch fish. No one really needs a fish.
When you have a fish, you dump it back. It鈥檚 not lesson time.听Fish catching is about the thrill of the chase, the work with friends, the shared challenge.听It鈥檚 about problem solving, observing how the fish move (science!) and motor skills too.
Having a fish that someone else caught isn鈥檛 the point. I听think about being a parent and a teacher and observing children.听Even experts can forget that there is a time to model and guide, and also a time to give space for the kind of learning that happens with uninterrupted play and exploration.
There are a lot of lessons to learn when wading with minnows!
Julia Luckenbill听is the director of Davis Parent Nursery School鈥檚 Danbury site and an adult educator with the Davis Joint Unified School District. She is retired from听her work as a full-time lecturer and program coordinator at the Center for Child and Family Studies Laboratory School and is enjoying afternoons with her daughter.