Nicomachean Ethics

Again, and Again

The first time you climbed the tall ladder, your legs were shaky.
You went up one step. Just one.

The next day, you went up two.

How do you get up the ladder?
You climb it again. And again.

Say it with me: again, and again.

Nobody is brave on the very first try.
Being brave is trying one more time.
Even when you feel scared.
You do one small brave thing today.
A little bigger one tomorrow.
And the brave grows.

It works for kind, too.
You share your toy. Then you share again.
Little by little, sharing gets easy.
And you turn into a kind kid —
not because someone told you to.
Because you did it, again and again.

You don’t have to be good right away.
Wobbly is how everyone starts.
Slow is okay. Shaky is okay.
You just go again.

So when something feels too hard,
and you really want to stop —
take a big breath.
And try it one more time.

That is how you grow.

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: This comes from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, whose central idea is that we become good (brave, kind, fair) not by being told to be, but by doing those things over and over until they become who we are; in Ross’s translation, we become just by doing just acts and brave by doing brave acts. Two gentle cautions as you share it. First, the point is growing, not winning: the idea isn’t that trying hard enough makes you the best at everything, but that you grow a little each time you try. Second, Aristotle was just as clear that what a child practices matters, since unkind habits grow the same way kind ones do, so the loving part is helping a child practice the right things, not just praising effort. Let again, and again mean keep growing, not never rest.

Glad for You

Maya can ride her bike now.
No little wheels on the side!
She rides past Sam’s house.
Sam jumps up and claps.

Sam is glad for Maya.
Say it with me: glad for you.

Some friends play with you
because you have the best toys.
When the toys go away,
those friends can go away too.

Some friends play with you
because you are silly and fun.
That is nice!
But fun can stop fast.

A real friend is glad for you.
Even when your good thing
is not their good thing.
Sam did not get a bike.
Sam still claps.
Glad for you.

A real friend takes a long time.
You play. You share snack.
You help when one of you falls down.
Day after day after day.
Slowly, you know each other.
Slowly, you trust each other.

You can’t make a real friend
in one day.
But you can start today.

When your friend does something good,
you can clap too.
You can say it with me:
glad for you.

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: This comes from the two books on friendship in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (VIII and IX). He sorts friendships into three kinds: those built on usefulness, those built on fun, and the rare kind between good people who want each other’s good for its own sake. The first two fade when the use or the fun runs out; the third lasts, but it takes time, since people cannot know each other, as the old proverb in the text has it, until they have eaten salt together. One caution: fun friendships are not bad ones, and Aristotle says the friendships of the young naturally run on pleasure, so the point is not to rank a child’s friends or drop the fun ones. It is to notice the friend who is glad for you, and to be that friend.