Hide & Seek

We've been playing a lot of hide & seek this summer. Part of the pleasure of hide & seek is this: we put ourselves into a state of disequilibrium when we don't know where the hider(s) are, and we restore equilibrium when we find them. For young children who are new at the game, the tension and the relief are both much greater--they're afraid they really might not find you. This is why the game is really much more exciting for them. Until recently, the Lark didn't "get" this part of the game. He just looked for me because I would tickle him when he found me. He relied on me to hide in an easy enough place or make enough noise that he could find me easily. Otherwise, he'd just give up.

This summer it's different. I can hide in much harder places, and he works very hard to find me. He gets really nervous when he can't find me and calls out, "where's Mowbow?!" I make a little noise so he doesn't panic, and he keeps looking. When he finally spots a foot or something, he laughs out loud, really enjoying that restored sense of equilibrium, and he doesn't even care whether I tickle him or not. He's enjoying the game for its own sake.

The other role--the hiding part--he never used to get at all. I think he couldn't understand the other person's perspective enough to know what he had to do to hide so they couldn't see him. Also, he couldn't identify with the other person enough to share her feeling of tension and relief--and he probably still doesn't. He does at least understand the difference between a hiding place and a "seeing place," as he calls it. So now the challenges are to be able to come up with a hiding place and to share the seeker's feelings. He'll get there.