Its interesting for me to watch my two children and how they react differently to what life throws in their way. the two children have two very different personalities and its fascinating to watch as their character evolves and develops. Even though they are just children there are threads that weave into their actions and are in my opinion core characteristics of their personalities.
If I were to summarize the characters of Jasmin Jonathan each in one sentence I would say that Jonathan relies on providence and that Jasmin is more down to earth.
Jonathan's learning pattern is that of making quantum leaps of sudden understanding after the shoe dropped, his having been stuck in a certain phase for quite sometime.
Jasmin seams to have an innate understanding of the various functionings of the world that surrounds her from a very early age. She just "gets it"! By default she understands how things work.
Recently I noticed how the two children react to a situation that required them to request help. Jasmin will say or even shout "taasvu oti" (which means - leave me alone! plural) if in distress, or "taazor li" (meaning - help me, singular) when asking for assistance. When Jonathan was at the age Jasmin is now (2.5 years old) his way of signalling distress was calling loudly for rescuing (in Hebrew "Hatzilu" which means save me! and is a call for the general public present for help in distress) and he whines when things do not go his way as a first remedy (unfortunately he still does this and he is almost 7 years old) rather than asking for help or looking for a solution to his problem.
It would almost seem that Jonathan is operating as if relying on providence (some great force will send help - and this help is usually manifested in the form of mom giving a hand...) almost as if he has a "contract" with God, and he is disappointed in it every time things do notwork as he imagines they should. Jasmin relies on her surroundings for a solution. She will seek a solution by either taking action or requesting assistance. When in distress she can also express the remedy in the form of addressing the reason for her predicament. If she is indeed left to herself when she demands to be left alone (taasvu oti!) then she will achieve her peace of mind and all will be ell! the people are the reason for her predicament and they should be called on to make the desired change, y either leaving or helping...
Despite differences of character,they are siblings. They have many things in common (both are very skilled at ignoring my requests when these interfere with their preferences or favorite TV show...). Jasmin being a fast and practical learner,imitates her big brother (and her kindergarten teacher,and sometimes my expressions too-fascinating mirror that is...) and so she learns skills from him at an incredible pace, doing things (talking on the phone, riding a scooter) much earlier than Jonathan. I can only hope that Jonathan, all imagination and artist's soul that he is, will learn some of his sisters pragmatism from her. Jonathan is in fact a rather doting elder brother and he plays with Jasmin and smothers her with affection. I hope this last to their adolescent years...Optimisms good for the soul...
