Both the Blue-eyed Boy and Curly-Locks have been under the weather with winter colds. They came to be with me over the past couple of days and I was happy to take care of them. By last night, Curly-Locks was fine. And the Blue-eyed Boy? Not so much.
Now, I tried to persuade them to wear something more than a long-sleeved teeshirt, worn loose over their pants. The Blue-eyed boy kept his sweater on for a while, then shed it and refused to put it on again. I managed to get Curly-Locks to keep his. This happened after they'd been playing tea parties and the Blue-eyed Boy had poured the remainer of the herb tea over his brother!! So a change of clothes was called for and the sweater was on.
Certainly, we all need to be more warmly dressed than usual when we have a cold. So why do these boys refuse to wear another layer? I was totally puzzled until a recent discussion with a woman who teaches eurythmy. She said that children today aren't used to being covered. An 'aha!' moment for me.
The take-away from this small anecdote is that we need to be sure our children are used to being covered. If nothing else works, maybe a short-sleeved tee over the long one would be better than nothing, and maybe help towards the child becoming more accustomed. Warmth is so very important for the good incarnation of the ego, a process that will only come to fruition once the individuality reaches the age of twenty-one, although there are significant moments at ages three, nine and twelve as well.
