I

"When a newborn scratches herself with her own fingernail, when an infant puts her foot in her mouth while sitting up, or falls over and then angrily looks around for the person responsible for this, when she pulls her hair and grimacing with pain repeats the same experiment over again, when she knocks herself on the head with a spoon and looks up to see what struck her-the child does not know herself.

When she investigates the movement of her hand, when she carefully examines her fist while sucking away at it, or while toddling, she stops and looks down and tries to find something which seems to be carrying her along, when she compares her right foot inside a sock with the other one-she is trying to find things out and to understand.

When she tests the water in the bath and finds herself to be a conscious drop among all the other drops, it is then that she apprehends the important truth contained in the word: "I."

Janusz Korchzak (Loving Every Child)