About folk traditions of raising children. Mikhail Nikiforovich Melnikov. Part 3

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

From the creative heritage of Mikhail Nikiforovich Melnikov, a connoisseur of folk traditions, a beacon of folk culture. Years of life: 08/10/21 - 08/13/98. Folklorist, ethnographer, professor, specialist in folklore.

Part 1

Part 2

We continue our conversation with Mikhail Nikiforovich Melnikov, an expert on the folk traditions of raising children

Now I cannot say about many other things and will dwell only on the following. This is also a lullaby period when the child already knows a lot of words. He already speaks himself. Then he is taught to conduct a dialogue. To teach "what is the mind - such are the speech." Know by speech and reason. Therefore, they teach to talk, but still passively, when the grandmother, nanny, mother turn on jokes.

What are jokes, especially dialogical ones? “Goat, goat (known to him), where have you been? - She guarded the horses. Where are the horses? - We went out the gate. And where is the gate? - The fire burned. Where is the fire? - Water flooded. Where is the water? - The bulls drank. Where are the bulls? - We went to the meadows. And where are the meadows? - Overgrown grass (or flowers). And where is the grass? - The men squinted. Where are the men? - The haystacks have been marked. Where are the men? - They took them to the war … Communication is given not only directly, but also indirectly. Those. teach to think broadly, dialectically. And although his experience is still limited by the hut, he is already being led into the outside world through the word. Well, and most importantly, he learned that you can communicate, learn everything, only through dialogue.

There are a lot of these dialogical jokes. They are taught, and then the children willingly play "lady" (you probably know such a game?). “The lady sent you a golik, and a broom, a hundred rubles of money. And she punished, don't wear black and white, yes and no, don't say, don't make your lips like a bow … ". Those. children themselves have an active dialogue. One drives into a verbal trap - the other tries to avoid it. And this is already a colossal exercise of the child's mind. What seems simple to us, but the child must remember all the prohibitions, and this is already a long-term memory. He must not succumb to emotions, be able to manage emotions (volitional centers turn on.), Be able to feel the word in such a way in order to recognize the catch in advance, and not fall into the trap. And to the other, the question must be posed in such a way as to drive the partner in the game into a trap. There is a competition, and this is a very important stage in the mental development of children. After all, they train not slaves, not lackeys, but thinkers who would themselves be able to obtain knowledge, would themselves be able to satisfy their aesthetic needs. If you want to play - organize the game! Recently, I remember, the Komsomol shouted at its last breath: “Help with entertainment! Organize your leisure time! " (For adults !?).

Children from the age of 3 already organized their leisure time. They sang and danced, played various games. Yes, they developed so that 95-100 percent went to the army, like full-fledged, healthy people … And everything was laid down during this period …

A. N.: Thank you, Mikhail Nikiforovich! I hope that this conversation with you will not be our last. And we will continue this work so that as many of our young people, future parents, in particular, know about how well our “dark and ignorant” ancestors handled raising children …

From the publications of the newspaper "Sibirskaya Zdrava", No. 3/20017