A Review of Eva M. Simms' The Child in the World: Embodiment, Time, and Language in Early Childhood.

How does the non-child enter into this complex yet wonderful world of childhood?Ironically, this world of children is all around us, but not easily entered.Adults tend to observe this world, rationalize and surmise via a mature perspective as to what is occurring for children, but how much of this world can we really understand-even see or feel?Eva Simms attempts to lead the professional adult and parent into the mysteries of the lived experience of the child in the world through a series of crafted chapters that provide windows for us to glimpse the possibilities of child dwelling: Milk and Flesh, The World's Skin Ever Expanding, About Hens, Hands, and Old-Fashioned Techniques, The Child in the World of Things, Playing at the Edge, Because We Are the Upsurge of Time, Babble in the House of Being, and The Invention of Childhood.Each thematic section reveals an aspect of what it means to be a child by offering a special element, the unique of children's lives in an adult world.Simms manages to raise awareness of a child in the world by challenging our interpretations of children, but her portrayal and our understanding may still not be a child's experience.Despite every adult living through what we define to be childhood years, to be a child is understood reflectively through adulthood.Thus childhood is by far a taken-forgranted and a culturally commonly reflected experience-nostalgically or academically.We all tend to remember our past times as a child growing up, yet, I have discovered that an adult can only enter this world reflectively, for the grown-up can never really be in that world.Why?For the very reason adults admire and are fascinated by children: their ability to be fully in a moment.Children know how to live in the here and now without regrets.For an adult to enter that world would require the adult being able to let go of the everyday and embrace living in a moment.Children demand far too much of their world to dismiss wonder and adventure even in the smallest of things.Reflectively, I tried to renter the world of my youth by recalling an everyday task, a taken-for-granted: going outside.Children rarely seem to just walk.Children burst into the outside world.The child's entrance into the outdoor world is typically accompanied by speed, noise, and smiles.We see this scene depicted in the movie Small Change, by Truffaut (1976).The school door flies open, seconds after the ringing of the final bell, and we see and hear the noise of rushing children to get out.In a magical blur, the world is full of children pouring into the open space.It is a moment that defies belief, for more children per second can navigate the narrow streets of the old French village than would seem physically possible.Within seconds the

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