DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET 1 Choice Overview It could be argued that learning to make mindful choices is one of the primary purposes of childhood. Throughout human history children have traditionally played at the work of the adults in their community—hunter, gatherer, caregiver, leader, healer—and in turn at the choice making these adults engage in. (“The wind is coming from the north. I need to loop around the forest and approach the wild boar in the clearing from the south so he is less likely to smell me coming.”) In addition to playing at adult choice making, children have traditionally had oppor- tunities for more real choice making in their own lives. Throughout most of human history, adults have been too busy with things like finding food, shelter, and water and defending their families from danger to pay much attention to their children, let alone turn into helicopter parents. There was not a lot of parental hovering in the thirteenth century, and that meant kids were trusted with making real choices from a very early age. 7 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL