FROM THE editors January 31, 2005 Issue

'I can'

Editor

Every day, all over the world, small children assert their independence by rejecting offers of help and declaring, "I can do it!"

Try to open a cereal box for them, and they pull it away so that they can attack it with both hands and what teeth they have. Try to help them go down steep stairs with two teddies, a blanket, and a sippy cup full of milk, and they say, "I can do it!" Offer to push them on the swing, and they wriggle out of reach and show just how capable they are at propelling themselves into action — sometimes by standing on the swing.

This is part of the way children naturally push themselves to grow and learn. And adults, too, tend to assert their independence and their ability to cope on their own: "I'm perfectly capable." "I wasn't born yesterday." "I've managed on my own for many years, thank you."

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