Puzzle

With the kids (and mom) sick, everyone stayed inside to rest and recuperate. The challenge then is to keep the kids sufficiently occupied when everyone is stuck inside the house. One activity the kids enjoyed was putting together the pieces for the huge Children of the World floor puzzle. I like this puzzle because it is circular like the world and teaches the kids the various countries and flags of the world.

Games and toys that help teach kids about the world are increasingly important as the pace of globalization quickens. As countries and people become more interdependent, we need to understand who are the people that we increasingly depend on (and vice versa). A type of mutual self-interest, then, is a reason for knowing who else is on this globe. But putting aside mutual self-interest, there is another reason for knowing our global neighbors, and that reason is understanding--knowing who are the peoples of the world just to understand more fully who they are, where they reside, how they live, and what they do. Pure understanding might not produce a practical benefit, but it central to who we are as humans. A person needs to connect to other people. Understanding that other person allows us to connect to that person. As the world gets smaller, we need to understand more.