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Imagining: What Can You See in Bread?

2025年1月6日 11:25

I am a father in my 10th year as an elementary school teacher, raising four children aged 6, 4, 2, and 0.

My motto is to apply insights from parenting to education, and to connect learning from the school environment back to parenting. I share thoughts based on real-life experiences in education and child-rearing, hoping they might provide some helpful hints.

The theme this time is “Imagining: What Can You See in Bread?”.

#ITriedMakingIt

A story from the morning of January 3rd

For about an hour before the children woke up, I was preparing for math lessons for the third term. Just past 7 o'clock, I heard the sound of thumping footsteps. The little monsters were awake.

Is breakfast bread? Or is it a red ogre?

Breakfast that day was bread. They were about to eat the bread my wife had prepared, topping it with their favorite jam or cheese, while chatting excitedly. Then, my two-year-old son said,
“Hey, Papa. Look!! Ogre!! Ogre” Thinking, 'He's saying something again...', I went over and saw a piece of bread spread with strawberry jam.

It was a slice of bread shaped like this. The red ogre bread with strawberry jam disappeared into my second son's mouth.

Second son: “This is the horn!! Look! It's an ogre, right?”
Me: “You're right!! It's a red ogre. Oh, don't eat it~.”
Second son: “Wait~. Chomp. I ate the horn!!”
Me: “Ouch~. Stop it~.”

It was a farce unfolding right in front of me, but my eldest son and eldest daughter were laughing, finding it funny.

It looks like this to me!!

Then, my eldest daughter said, “To me, it looks like a kitty. These aren't horns, they're kitty ears.”

Following that, my eldest son said, “To me, it looks like a bear. Because look, these are the ears, right? Oh, but they're ears for a kitty too.”

I said, “Papa thinks it looks like a frog, though.”
Then my eldest daughter said, “It doesn't look like a frog~. What are you talking about, Papa?”
Hearing that, a fire was lit in my heart.
“Alright!! This is a chance to nurture the imagination to see things as something else. Time to use my teacher-like skills.”
I took out my iPad, launched the Freeform app, and made a 'Bread Doodling Machine'. (I just took a photo of the bread, duplicated it, and lined them up on the board.)

Let's start drawing★

First, the ogre illustration from my second son. When I asked, 'Is it like this?', he happily said, 'Ogre!! Ogre!!' while biting the other horn like a monster.

Next is the kitty my eldest daughter imagined. It was a simple drawing, but she said, 'So cute. It's a pity to eat it,' while taking a bite of the bread.

Next is the bear my eldest son imagined. It's hard to differentiate it from the cat.

The frog my eldest daughter didn't believe in. But when I drew the illustration, she said, 'You're right. It's a frog. These become the eyes~.'

Finally, when I turned the photo around and drew an illustration, my eldest son and daughter said in unison, 'It's Kirby★'. I was surprised they even knew who Kirby was.

A sharp point to make!!

Me: “See? It looked like a frog, didn't it?”
Eldest daughter: “Yeah. It looked like an ogre and a bear too. When you turned it, it looked like Kirby.”
Me: “If you had decided 'It's this!!', you wouldn't have known, right? There are interesting things that you can't see if you make up your mind about them. Also, it's interesting to hear what other people think, right? That's why...”

Don't jump to conclusions; try looking at things from many different perspectives!

Since they are four years old, they will surely forget this soon. However, whenever they notice something, I intend to engage with them in the same way again. I hope they get to fully enjoy the fun of imaginative power and creativity. And I hope they acquire the agency to seek out fun for themselves. For that purpose, I will make whatever I can.

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