Learning about the ‘Sandbox Philosophy

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Pamela Lincoln
Cass County Extension Agent
 
Family and Consumer Sciences Have you heard of the “Sandbox Philosophy of Life?” Probably so, but if not, I’d like to share it with you. Your child/ren and grandchild/ren may be experiencing this philosophy now. Sure makes good sense. 
 
“Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school. 
 
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and dance and play and work every day some. 
 
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. 
 
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
 
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we. 
 
And, then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: Look. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living. 
 
Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or, if we had a policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And, it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you do go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”
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