What do YOU think she saw?
I love children’s stories that are wonderful tales with happy endings all neatly tied up in a bow, so why does this children’s book end with a question? There’s a quote by Dr. Suess that I think sums up my sentiment and the impact of engaging and being fully present:
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
As a parent, early childhood educator, and yoga instructor, I wanted to start a conversation to get the reader and the listener thinking. Reading to a child or being read to is a gift. To engage them in thinking about the story and hearing their creative answers makes story-time more rich. What do you think she saw? Perhaps she saw a fish. What kind of fish? What color of fish? How big was it? What did she do then? For older listeners they may exclaim, “Why she saw herself!” How could she see herself? Did they know water acts as a sort of mirror reflecting her image? Maybe that possibility could be checked out scientifically with their own experiments with a sink, bathtub, or wading pool. The point is to engage. Engaging in meaningful conversations fosters creativity. It also gives children a voice for their understanding of the story.
What do you think she saw?
The subtle truth is that in seeing herself she answered her question of “who am I?” She needn’t be tall. She doesn’t have to be pretty or the prettiest. She doesn’t have to be a certain color. She is not who the world wants to assign her to be. In seeing herself, she sees a unique person who is enough and valuable just as she is. She needn’t look to others for validation. As a unique and loved creation she is enough.