February 15, 2001 - Thursday
Something happened this morning at Harry's daycare that I found fascinating. It didn't involve Harry, but rather his two playmates. In fact, most of it happened before we arrived, but Harry's two playmates - a girl and a boy, both about 18 months - apparently had something of a spat and one took a swat at the other (I think she swung at him). They were quickly corralled by the daycare provider and the girl's mother, who was still there, and nothing got out of hand. After all, they're just two toddlers. I'd have expected them to just go off and get distracted by something else and it would be over.

However, it's apparently not so simple, even at that age. There was apparently some obligatory effort to get them to reconcile, and the boy picked up on it right away. While I don't think he was prompted, he went over to her and try to give her a hug to make up. It would be darling enough, but she refused him, pushing him away and then turning away herself. As if to show his sincerity, he followed and tried to hug her again. With that, the two were again out of my view, but I heard the boy get upset, almost certainly because the girl would not give him a hug and make up.

For the few minutes more than I was there, the two managed two share a room without incident, but there was a clear tension lingering between them. They kept a guarded distance and did not seem to want to look at each other. They're just eighteen months old and already the touchy dynamics of human relationships, emotions, egos, insecurity, grudges, and forgiveness are already at work. On the one hand, they seem like such complex emotions. And, clearly they are. But, they're also apparently very primal human behaviors, learned long before and, thus, more basic than logic and problem solving.


Comments, opinions?