Skillbuilding

The simple act of cutting a piece of paper. I don't think about it very often, but as Toe held scissors for maybe the second time ever, I realized how many tasks we complete that require a multitude of parts and underlying skills.

First, there's how to hold the scissors. I had to explain which holes held which fingers multiple times. Not as self explanatory for a two year old as you would think. Toe wanted to just hold one side with each hand (which did seem easier for him).

Once he had his hand in the scissors, I had to show him how to open and close the scissors. This action apparently takes both hand strength and leverage. We are working on that. He also had a hard time knowing how to position the scissors so they would actually cut. I had to hold a pair of scissors to even remember what position I hold them in, it all comes so naturally and all looked so unnatural on his little hands. We did get his thumb facing up by the end.

His arm wobbled as he tried to get the scissors in proximity to the paper and I spent a lot of time putting the paper IN the opened scissors. It was a tricky prospect which required a lot of work on Toe's part. After he had made a series of cuts, he announced, "I'm good at this!" He felt the cutting experience was a complete success.

Yay for not requiring perfection of yourself the first time and for having the willingness to jump in and try something that requires a lot of new actions. His mother has a lot to learn from this.

I think about people like my brother who have so many additional physical or mental obstacles as they try to learn new skills, and I really feel for them. This is hard work!