Monday, July 5, 2010

The 100 Languages of Children Poem

I know this has nothing to do with dogs, but many of our readers are mum's to human children, school teachers and all are parents of canine children..... so I thought I could get away with this post.

A very long time ago, one of my clients, now a dear friend, shared this poem with me. It has always stayed glued in my mind, and I quite often think about it... especially recently.

The Hundred Languages Of Children

The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marvelling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

We were really looking forward to launching Camp Doglando this summer, until we were informed from our Insurance agents that they were not able to find any coverage for us for the program. Well with out insurance, unfortunately, things can't move on. But we have not given up... we hope by next summer we will have all our goose in a row.

In the interim to our amaze, we have had an incredible number of parents and children alike, very interested in Camp Doglando, and other opportunities Doglando may offer for children. We are flattered by the trust and response, and I am committed to finding a way to incorporate this wonderful experience of working with dogs in a completely cage free, stable, confident and social environment for them.

We just need the right resources, but we will get there for next year.

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