It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the Little Monkey became The Puzzler. But man, that kid can do some puzzles, jigsaws if you like. He’ll spend an hour sat at the kitchen table as we cover it with train puzzles, car puzzles, tractor puzzles, and Peppa Pig puzzles.
What I love most about this is he now reacts with a big “YEAH” for himself when he finishes a puzzle (demonstrated with a horribly out of focus photo). Putting puzzles together all by himself is the first thing he’s outwardly shown pride in doing. It warms my heart to see him excited by his own achievement, not just because someone praised him and said “well done.”
However, the biggest lesson The Puzzler has taught me as a parent is to never underestimate your child. They don’t have the barriers, the preconceptions, the inhibitions, the things we adults have collected as baggage along our journey. They’re like sponges soaking up every last bit of information about the world around them and how it works and they don’t care whether they fit in the age range listed on a box of puzzles. As parents, shouldn’t we encourage this inquisitiveness as much as possible and set aside our own preconceptions about what our children are capable of? After all, they might just surprise us with something amazing.
