Since it is the last moon of mid-autumn, I make otsukimi dango (moon-viewing dumplings).
This year, I asked my son Takeh to help me make them. Without even asking him, he said, “I want to do it! He said, “I want to do it!
I guess making dango and playing with clay are synonymous for him.
When I actually let him try, he made dumplings with more bravado than I expected. When you teach him how to do it, he can imitate adults to some extent. I was impressed by that.
Perhaps it is because he plays house with the children at the day care center and has the opportunity to play the role of “cook.
But it is only a game in the day care center. He has no interest in completing a dish properly. He is easily bored and distracted. I see that his growth potential is in “concentration” and I can understand his future challenges.
It appears that he has not yet developed the nerve cells and motor skills to control the force of his palms well. He cannot use both hands to roll the dough into a ball. Instead, he makes long, thin, rope-like objects. He himself became more interested in “how long a rope I can make” than in making balls, and in the end all the dumplings he made became long and thin.
(2023.09.27)
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