The concept of "independence". Content and factors influencing the development of independence

Independence is defined as one of the personality traits, which is characterized by two factors:

a set of means, knowledge and skills;

incentive to action.

If, for example, a person is motivated to act in the presence of a constant task, he has a motivational attitude for independence.

Independence is not an abstract characteristic of a person in general, but a characteristic of a relationship with a person. Many educators understand independence as:

- the ability to establish the basis for certain actions, the choice of behavior;

- the ability to isolate their positions;

- the ability to independently implement the structural blocks of activity;

- planning, regulation and analysis of their activities without the help of others;

- correlate their aspirations and capabilities, adequately assess the process of their activities.

According to the famous Doctor of Philology, Professor S.I. Ozheg's independence is a person:

- existing separately from others, independent;

- decisive, possessing own initiative;

- an action performed without assistance.

Leontiev A.N. understands the generalized component of the attitude of the individual to the performance of his duties, to the process of activity, its result, aimed at independence, autonomy.

The authors of the "Origins" program understand independence as a peculiar form of activity, reflecting the level of development of the child, providing proactive setting and solving various kinds of problems that arise in life and activity.

Tokaeva T.E., Poltavtseva N.V. - prepare, execute, evaluate the result, establish a “goal-result” relationship - these are their main factors that determine independence. Independence is a constantly developing quality, and has its own content. What is the content of independence in motor activity.

We can answer this question based on the works of Keneman A.V., Leskova G.P., Poltavtseva N.V. and others who studied the problem of physical education of preschoolers. They identified indicators of independence and its content.

The motive induces the child to activity. It can be created in different conditions:

– enrichment of the arsenal of skills;

- encouraging children through changing conditions;

- setting new tasks.

Also, independence is influenced by the child's intelligence, emotional state, physiological and individual characteristics, a large place is given to inventory.

After reviewing many definitions of the concept of "independence", I came to the conclusion:

Independence is the ability of a person to plan, exercise control over his activities on the basis of available knowledge autonomously.

P.F. Lesgaft: “In general, a child is given great pleasure if he himself noticed and clarified some phenomenon for himself, and if his reasoning turned out to be really correct, in the same way, what he did himself and achieved without indicating others gives him the greatest pleasure.”

1.2 Psychological and pedagogical aspects of the formation of independence

In the studies of Guskova T., Ermak N. it is said that independence is a quality, refracted behavior at different stages of a child's life: at 2-3 years old, the desire for independence; by the age of four, the fading of this aspiration. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly engage with the child so that the development of independence does not completely fade.

Such well-known psychologists as Leontiev A.S., Bozhovich L.I., Rubinshtein S.A. explain this by the fact that on the threshold of preschool age, the child experiences a “crisis of three years”. Separation of oneself from other people, awareness of one's own capabilities through a sense of mastery of the body, feeling oneself as a source of will lead to the emergence of a new type of relationship between a child and an adult. He begins to compare himself with an adult and wants to enjoy the same rights as adults: to perform the same actions, to be just as independent and independent. The desire to be independent is expressed not only in the forms offered by adults, but also in the stubborn desire to do this and not otherwise. The child feels himself the source of his will. Feeling yourself as a source of will is an important moment in the development of self-realization.

When the child begins to feel able to act independently successfully enough, he strives to do "himself". The "crisis of three years" arises as a result of individual achievements in the personal development of the child.

Communication between an adult and a child gives him the opportunity to begin to realize himself as a separate person. The child's need to act independently with the means and objects depends on the position that the adult takes in interaction with the child.

A sharp increase in independence sometimes causes a conflict between an adult and a child. Unfortunately, adults do not always take into account the need of the child to be freed from guardianship, and cross every activity that seems to them.

Therefore, the basis and necessary condition for the formation of independence is the correct organization of the kindergarten sphere; An atmosphere of trust, friendliness, restraint, etc. is extremely important.

The desire for independence arises and develops from the level of the child's mastery of skills and abilities in the field of physical education, i.e. learning skills is decisive in the formation of independence. The condition of the rules also plays an important role: performing exercises, organizing and conducting games, moral rules, humanity, goodwill, concession.

In psychology, it is believed that the degree of development of independence is determined by the possibility of transition to more complex activities.

Preschool age is a direct continuation of the early age in terms of general sensitivity. This is the period of mastering the social space of human relations through communication with close adults, as well as through gaming and real relationships with peers. The child seeks to realize his "I", seeking to confirm his independence. The child develops the basis of a responsible attitude to the results of his actions.

The formation of independence, according to Vygotsky L.S., largely depends on the level of formation of memory, thinking, development of attention, speech, etc. Thanks to this, the child is able to subordinate his actions to one or another task, to achieve the goal, overcoming the difficulties that have arisen.

We have long been of the opinion that the child is not yet a person. It noted only that which distinguished him from an adult. It turned out that a small child is an inferior being who cannot independently think, act, have desires that do not coincide with the desires of adults.

What is independence like?

The older the child became, the less `imperfections` were found in him, but this did not change the essence of the matter. And only recently we have established a `positivist` approach to the development of the child: he has finally been recognized the right to be a person. And independence is a faithful companion of personal development.

What is independence? It would seem that the answer lies on the surface, but we all understand it a little differently.

The most typical answers:

- `this is an action that a person performs on his own, without prompting and helping others`;

The ability to rely only on one's own strength;

- `independence from the opinions of others, freedom of expression of one's feelings, creativity`;

- `the ability to manage oneself, one's time and one's life in general`;

- `the ability to set yourself such tasks that no one has set before you, and solve them yourself`.

It is difficult to object to these definitions. They accurately indicate the independence of a person and, by and large, the maturity of his personality. But how to apply these estimates to a toddler, say, 2-3 years old? Almost none of them can be used without significant reservations. Does this mean that those psychologists were right who argued that complete independence is not available to babies and therefore it is premature to talk about the personality of a child? Yes and no.

The independence of the child, of course, is relative, but it originates in early childhood. It is very difficult to recognize it in a child: we operate with the criteria of `mature` independence, but in him it is expressed implicitly, often mimics other qualities or is only partially detected.

Guessing its manifestations, helping the first sprouts to get stronger and develop is not an easy task. Both overestimation and underestimation of the nascent child's independence are very important for the developing personality of the child and are fraught with the same result - the helplessness of our children in the face of life's problems, and even gross developmental delays.

Independence does not mean complete freedom of action and deeds, it is always enclosed in a rigid framework of norms accepted in society. Therefore, it is not any action alone, but only meaningful and socially acceptable. It is difficult to call the monotonous, chaotic or aimless actions of children with mental problems independent, although they seem to be so, although such kids play alone, do not pester adults and are not interested in what impression they make on others.

Children from 2 to 3 years old are characterized by some `asociality`, but it is associated with a lack of life experience and knowledge of `normativity` of actions. Little Skodas, they take on such actions only in order to please their mother with new successes. Do not be surprised if you find red fish in a cat's bowl prepared for the arrival of guests: while you were talking on the phone, the baby decided to feed the cat. Don't scold him. Rather, admire his independence and show how he can feed the cat next time. Over time, the child will learn the main thing - independence should end with a result that suits everyone. This `general result` or `general effect` is an indispensable condition for the formation of true independence. It occurs most often in the interval from 2 to 3.5 years, when its three components are added. They manifest themselves gradually and mainly in the sphere of objective activity of the child - this is the consistent mastery of three levels of integral objective activity.

Up to a certain point, all the actions of children are primitive: they roll the ball, wave the broom, put something in the box. These imitative operations are called actions `in the logic of the subject`. The child does not really think why he is waving a broom - he simply reproduces a familiar action, not realizing that it has a special meaning: after its completion there should be a certain result - a clean floor. That's when the child sets his goal to make clean in the apartment and for this will take up the broom, then we can assume that he took the first step towards independence, acted `in the logic of the goal`.

Purposefulness in a child is manifested in unbridled initiatives: washing clothes like mom, or hammering nails like dad. But at first there is neither skill nor perseverance, and so that the initiative does not disappear, you need help. And parents, unfortunately, are reluctant to support the "attacks" of children's independence: they are both burdensome and unsafe. But it is also impossible to abruptly stop or often switch the child's attention to more reasonable, in the opinion of adults, actions: this will slow down the development of the nascent child's independence and throw the baby back to primitive imitation.

Only as a last resort, if he has already thought up something out of the ordinary, you can resort to this - otherwise the initiative must be supported.

If you help the child regularly, his actions will soon reveal the second component of independence. - purposefulness, manifested in the dedication to business, the desire to get not just any, but the desired result. The child becomes diligent, persistent, organized. Failure does not become a reason for abandoning the plan, but makes you redouble your efforts and, if necessary, even ask for help. It is very important to help the child in time - this is a necessary condition for the development of his independence. The kid will refuse help as soon as he feels that he can cope on his own.

Having mastered the second component of independence - the purposeful implementation of their intentions, the child still remains dependent on an adult, more precisely, on his ability to correlate the result with the `norm`. The kid, in principle, masters this earlier and often uses it in the game, but in the type of activity that he masters in the third year of life, there is a fundamental innovation - the `general effect`, which we talked about above.

The child does not have sufficient experience to independently determine whether a satisfactory result has been achieved. The bearer of this knowledge is an adult, so he must evaluate every independently conceived and implemented action of a child, and this is a whole art. With the appearance of the first sprouts of independence, the child becomes very sensitive to his rights to its manifestation (remember Dima) - he reacts just as sharply to the assessment of his actions.

It is worth speaking rudely, sharply or indistinctly about his `adult` initiatives, and they may disappear forever along with your hopes for the independence of a child. Therefore, no matter how bizarre his idea may be, first praise, emotionally support her, and only then tactfully explain why it did not work out.

The kid tried so hard to water all the flowers in the house that he did not pass by the lilac on the wallpaper. It’s a pity, of course, for the damaged wallpaper and swollen parquet, but refrain from scolding and explain to him that paper flowers are not watered. Listening to your arguments, he will eventually learn all the concepts of `normative`, `generally accepted`.

At 3.5 years old, the child already almost unmistakably understands what he did well and what was bad, what he should be ashamed of and what he should not, and without our assessment. This kind of ability - the function of self-control - is the final stage in the formation of independence in objective activity. Having mastered the ability to independently plan, implement and control it, the baby becomes to some extent independent of the adult. But this is only the first and very modest step on the way to mature independence. The age-related leading activity will change, and he will again go through all the stages of mastering independence. Paradoxically, it does not automatically transfer from one type of activity to another.

If your kid has successfully mastered independent object actions at the age of 3, this does not mean that he will be successful in school, unless he makes special efforts for this. `Gaps` in the independence of the child at any of the previous stages of its development are fraught with a `chain reaction` - minuses in the future.

Often a child's independence gets stuck at the preschool level. He constantly needs to be controlled in his studies, forced to sit down for lessons and stimulate interest in them. True, this does not affect his general mental status as much as, say, mental or speech development.

volitional property of the individual as the ability to systematize, plan, regulate and actively carry out their activities without constant guidance and practical outside help. Free education - the concept of education, according to which the child must develop himself and he needs only favorable conditions for development. S.v. ignores the need for special assistance to the child from adults. (one)

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

INDEPENDENCE

one of the leading qualities of a person, expressed in the ability to set certain goals and achieve their own achievement. forces C provides for a responsible attitude of a person to his behavior, the ability to act consciously and proactively, not only in a familiar environment, but also in new conditions, incl. requiring non-standard decisions.

C is not an inborn trait, it is formed as the child grows up and has its own characteristics at each age stage. At the 5-6th month of life, the child begins to take independent actions - sits down, tries to get a toy, etc., by the end of the 1st year life - burns down, maintains the balance of his body, carries out purposeful actions T o, the desire for C is awakened, associated with the child's need to satisfy his desires without help and support from adults. At the 3rd year of life, due to increased physical. A variety of actions become available to the child. At this age, the child also begins to realize himself, separate himself from the world around him, and the foundations of self-awareness are laid. This is manifested in a heightened desire for S., often even contrary to the wishes of the parents. The so-called. crisis of 3 years (see Crises age) - a stage of formation of the personality, for to-rogo transition to a new, more perfect level of consciousness and behavior is characteristic. This stage is extremely favorable for the reasonable encouragement of the child's motivation, instilling in him useful skills. Parents and caregivers seeking to suppress children. activity, usually face acute negative reactions and behavioral disorders. If they succeed in making obedience the main mechanism of the child's behavior, this seriously impedes the formation of S.

Incomplete definition ↓

The manifestation of independence is an important stage in the formation of a child's personality. It's no secret that at the age of 1.5 - 2 years, the motto of many kids is the phrase "I myself!". This is an ideal period in order to instill independence in the performance of any actions in the little one, and thus a great opportunity to teach him something.
At the stage of formation of independence, parents need to be patient, because this is a gradual process: remember yourself, when you need to do something that you have never done before, the first time not everything can turn out brilliantly even for an adult, not to mention about a kid who only learns everything - everything comes with experience. That is why it is so important to support the child in his independence. The big mistake of many parents is to put everything under prohibitions: “Don’t touch this!”, “You’re doing it wrong!”, “You get dressed for too long, I’ll dress you myself!”, “Why are you climbing here!” etc. and after a while, wait until the child finally begins to do everything on his own, without resorting to the help of outsiders.
How to teach a child independence? At what age should a child be taught independence? What and at what age should a child be able to do on his own?

All parents want to raise their child on their own, but they only think about what it is when the child goes to school. Big changes are taking place in his life at this time, and it immediately becomes clear whether he is ready for them and how independent he is.
Independence in the general sense is the ability of a person to make decisions and perform independent actions, as well as to bear responsibility for them, to adequately evaluate himself and manage his life, dispose of it. In childhood, at each stage of development, independence is of particular importance. For example, for an infant, a manifestation of independence will be falling asleep in the crib, and not only in the mother's arms, the ability to do without her presence for some time. For children under 3 years of age, a sign of independence is the ability to play alone with yourself, at least for a short time to do without adults. The older the child becomes, the more capacious the definition of independence becomes for him. It includes:

1) the ability to take the initiative and act, noticing the need for personal participation in any business;
2) self-service skills;
3) the ability to perform simple housework without the help and control of adults;
4) the ability to act taking into account the proposed conditions or the prevailing circumstances;
5) the ability to perform deliberate actions in an unfamiliar situation (for this it is necessary to be able to set a goal, take into account the existing conditions, plan and get a result);
6) skills of self-control and evaluation of the results of their activities;
7) the ability to use existing experience in a new situation (transfer of mastered actions).
The foundation for turning a child into an independent person is laid in early childhood. Before the child goes to school, he usually associates independence with good behavior and only later becomes one of his personal qualities.
To develop independence, adults (especially parents) need to:
1) know the needs of the child, on the basis of which children's interests are formed;
2) to promote the creative development of the baby, involving him in play activities;
3) communicate more with the child both on a verbal (verbal) and non-verbal (facial expressions, gestures, postures, voice intonations) level;
4) provide the baby with the opportunity to act on his own in feasible activities and gradually complicate it;
5) to consolidate the skills of independent action.
The development of independence in children occurs in 3 stages. Each of them ends with a crisis, and then a relative stabilization of the personality. Then the child develops further, accumulates new experience, gains new knowledge, and again there is a need to change his position in society (in the family) and prove himself. The need for independence reaches its maximum expression in adolescence. A teenager already knows how to do a lot without the help of others, he is responsible for his actions, can plan his activities, control and evaluate his actions and their consequences. He understands that there are certain boundaries of freedom (generally accepted norms and laws).

Stages of development of independence
1. Formation of physical and everyday independence. This stage lasts up to 3 years. The child during this period is curious about everything, often repeats “I myself!” and acquire self-care skills. He learns to eat on his own, use the potty, washes his hands, dresses and shoes, tries to help his parents with household chores. It is important during this period to allow the child to show their independence.
2. Formation of educational independence. The stage begins at the age of 6-7 and continues until the crisis of adolescence (up to 12 years). The child already copes well with self-service and household chores and begins to develop independence in studies. He gets used to going to school, performs new duties (to collect a portfolio in the evening, etc.), including homework. He changes the mode of the day and increases the level of responsibility.
To develop learning independence, one has to develop willpower, make efforts to achieve the goal (learn a rule or a poem in order to answer well in class) and adhere to a new daily routine. At first, his parents help him in this, and then he himself copes with educational activities, does his homework without reminders, collects school supplies in a briefcase, as he understands that lessons are more important than cartoons. If a child has difficulty doing homework and cannot cope without reminders and help from adults, then it is necessary to arouse his interest in learning.
3. Formation of personal independence. The child already has everyday and educational independence and is approaching making decisions independently. If earlier parents considered his opinion, offered to make a choice himself, then the child has all the prerequisites for successfully passing this stage. At 11-12 years old, a child can already have his own opinion and make decisions in different life situations. During this period of life, it is necessary to provide him with more freedom. If he asks for help, because he does not know what to do in the circumstances, then first of all invite him to think for himself, only then express your opinion or make a decision together. If the child expresses his own version of solving the problem, then he will then treat its implementation more responsibly.
If the previous stages of the formation of independence have not been completely completed in a teenager, then he will no longer be able to overcome the third without the help of psychologists and persistent work on himself. An independent personality begins to be brought up from birth. To do this, it is necessary to arouse interest in it, to form an idea about it. You can talk to him on this topic and ask: “What is independence, how do you understand it? Who do you think is an independent person? A child can give different answers, for example, say that independence is the ability to do homework and help mom. Depending on the answer received, develop this topic with the child, ask why you need to be independent, whether he is independent, etc. In this way, you will create the conditions for him to find a motive for showing independence. In each case, he may have several motives, for example, he may wash dishes in soapy water to splash and play with foam or to help his mother. It is important to give him the opportunity to choose the motivation himself. Parents need to understand what motive is interesting for the child, but in no case should they try to change it, but only use it to develop interest in independent activity.
Often parents are not ready to accept the independence of the child and seek to protect him from life's problems and attempts to resolve them. In this case, he may protest, fight for his independence, or come to terms with the circumstances and become infantile.
Parents who do not want to promote the development of independence in a child are usually driven by fear. They are afraid that he will do something wrong and they will not like it, they are afraid that an independent child will become naughty, and they are very much afraid that they will become unnecessary to him. It is worth understanding that if you help a child become independent and perceive him as a free person, then it will be less likely that such fears will come true, but all attempts to keep him close, under control, just lead to them.
Parents usually act in one of three ways when it comes to parenting:
1) want him to stay a little longer;
2) rush the child to grow up faster;
3) adequately perceive the child's need for the development of independence and his ability to do so.
Independence in a child in the first years of life manifests itself mainly as an imitation of adults. The child wants, like a mother, to cook soup, knead the dough; like dad, knock with a hammer, lift dumbbells. It is very important to involve him with goodwill in joint activities.

To develop independence in a child, psychologists recommend taking the following actions:
1) when teaching self-care and self-care, show the child everything slowly, with explanations, slowly perform similar actions himself, so that he sees and tries for himself;
2) be patient and let him finish everything, only then show him again, how to do it right, and give him a chance for a second attempt;
3) encourage independent actions and deeds;
4) not to condemn the child's mistakes, but to suggest options for action and criteria for selection;
5) clearly explain what is good and what is bad, as well as set rules;
6) teach self-care (brush teeth, wash, go to the toilet, eat, dress, tell time by the clock, etc.) and fall asleep on their own;
7) teach to play alone with yourself;
8) give the opportunity to choose as often as possible and gradually teach you how to plan your classes;
9) moderately take care of the child;
10) to teach to communicate and get acquainted with others;
11) to teach to make decisions in life situations with the help of role-playing games;
12) engage in domestic work and accept its help;
13) calmly accept mistakes and mistakes, analyze them together, talk about your experience;
14) to teach the child to show responsibility and explain its measure, to encourage its manifestations;
15) contribute to the development of confidence and self-esteem;
16) communicate with the child as an equal person, take into account his emotions in communication, ask about events, be interested in his opinion;
17) not use pressure as a means of influencing the child;
18) teach how to deal with conflicts that arise when communicating with other children;
19) conduct sexual education;
20) believe in the child's ability to become independent and give him a sense of security;
21) not to limit independence in those cases with which he has already encountered.

E.Yu. Yaroslavtsev "Crisis of childhood: we nurture independence"

What is independence? Independence - independence, freedom from external influences, coercion, from outside support, help. Independence - the ability for independent action, judgment, initiative, determination. Such definitions are given to us by the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language. In pedagogy, this is one of the volitional spheres of the individual. This is the ability not to be influenced by various factors, to act on the basis of one's views and motives.

“Independence” is a very multifaceted and psychologically difficult phenomenon; it is rather a meaning-forming, qualitative characteristic of any sphere of activity and personality, which has its own specific criteria. Independence - as a characteristic of the student's activity in a specific learning situation, is a constantly manifested ability to achieve the goal of the activity without outside help. In this connection, the study highlights related concepts with the concept of "independence".

“Amateur activity” is a subjective, actually individual self-governed activity, with personally conditioned components: a goal, a leading need, motivation and ways of implementation.

“Self-activation” is a subjectively correlated internal motivation of activity.

“Self-organization” is the property of a person to mobilize himself, purposefully, actively use all his abilities to achieve intermediate and final goals, rationally using time, effort, and means.

“Self-regulation” is initially a psychological support of activity, in the subsequent development it acquires a personal meaning, i.e. actual psychic content.

“Self-control” is a necessary component of the activity itself, which carries out its execution at the personal level.

Despite the inconsistency in determining the timing, scientists are unanimous in one thing: independence is the most important characteristic of a person; independence cannot arise in isolation from other personal properties (arbitrariness, will, purposefulness); without independence, a person does not become complete.

According to experts, independence and activity is a mental state of a person, which includes: the ability to set a task; the ability to keep in mind the ultimate goal of an action and organize one's actions in line with its achievement; the ability to perform a certain degree of complexity of action without outside help, to correlate the result with the original intention.

According to S.L. Rubinshtein (1989), independence is the result of a person’s great inner work, his ability to set not only individual goals and tasks, but also determine the direction of his activity.

Academician I.S. Kohn (1992) expands this definition, characterizing independence as a property of a person, which implies, firstly, independence, the ability to make and implement important decisions on one's own, without outside prompting; secondly, responsibility, readiness to answer for the consequences of one's actions and, thirdly, the conviction that such behavior is real, socially possible and morally correct.

P.I. Pidkasty in his works defines independence as any active activity of students organized by the teacher, aimed at fulfilling the didactic goal. This process involves the search for knowledge, their comprehension, consolidation, formation and development of skills and abilities, generalization and systematization of knowledge.

S.S. Stepanov points out that independence is an integral expression of many emotional and intellectual properties of a person, orientation and will.

The increased interest in independence has strengthened the existing contradiction between the needs of pedagogical practice in the development of students' independence and the lack of development of psychologically based didactic systems that ensure the highly effective development of this quality. This problem is currently the subject of N.G. Chanilova, A.S. Kosharny, V.G. Orlovsky, etc.

So N.G. Chanilova defines independence as “a specific integrative formation of personality-activity qualities that determines the development of desires, skills and abilities of a person without outside help to formulate problems that are significant for him and bring their resolution to positive results” .

The need to form independence is also noted by V.G. Orlovsky: “At the present stage, the general trend of improving the methods and forms of teaching is to activate cognitive interests and develop the independence of students as much as possible, to form the skills of independent work with educational and reference literature, scientific and technical information, technical and technological documentation, that is, to develop the desire to learn on their own, independently replenish their knowledge and creatively apply them in practical activities.

The level of independence depends on the content of a particular activity (objective, mental, communicative) performed by the student without the help of other people. Independence has another characteristic - the degree of severity. Comparing the actions of two students, we can always identify which of them is the most independent, that is, more persistent, less counting on support, focused on the task. In a schoolchild, this quality is manifested most often in educational, intellectual activity, and in an adult - in labor. Consequently, any activity is meaningful, that it is independent only when the person who performs it masters it in full, that is, becomes its bearer. In this regard, independence can be defined as a special moment in the formation of an integral activity, as a criterion for the degree of mastery of this activity. An essential role in the process of formation of independence is played by the student's ability to analyze and self-analyze actions and relationships in joint affairs, the ability to correlate their opportunities for participation with the capabilities of a friend. The presence of all these indicators allows you to quickly assert yourself in general activities, find your place and reasonably apply your abilities. Joint activities with peers and appropriate leadership of this process by an adult are important conditions for the development of independence.

Revealing the didactic aspects of the problem under consideration, it is worth remembering that it is important not to transfer knowledge to children, but to equip them with ways to acquire knowledge, because what one gets independently, with difficulty, is always valuable in itself. In this regard, the following problem falls on the shoulders of teachers and educators - the creation of conditions at school, class, in a group that contribute to the formation of this personality trait, and already at school, a harmonious combination of high academic performance, motivation and diligence can be achieved.

To those who do not have it, independence seems to be such an attractive and fascinating thing that he will give anything for it. Sanya was literally struck by this word when he peered into it. I didn’t read it, I didn’t think about it, there’s nothing special to think about, but I peered and saw. "Independence" - to stand on your own feet in life, without props and tips - that's what it means. Sometimes a trifle is not enough for an important decision; so it happened this time too: as soon as Sanya saw what independence is, he seemed to stand on his own, his own place, where he was to become independent, stood up so confidently and comfortably that there was no doubt, but it could be whether it was his place, and decided: enough is enough. Stop following orders, acting on prompts, believing in fairy tales... A man is fifteen years old, but everything is a child for mom and dad, and this will never end unless you declare once and for all: yourself. Himself with a mustache. I am me, it belongs to me, in the end, I have to answer for myself in life, and not you. Of course, he was not going to cross the borders, there was no need for this, but he was going to push the borders. And surprisingly: as soon as Sanya made a decision, he was immediately lucky. At the beginning of summer, dad and mom were not going anywhere, but when Sanya returned from the sports camp where Sanya spent June, he suddenly found out that they were leaving. They fly to Leningrad, get into a car with their acquaintances, go to the Baltic States, then to Kaliningrad, then to Brest, somewhere else and return only at the end of August to collect Sanya for school. "And you will stay with your grandmother," - said my mother. Dad sighed. August is a golden month for my grandmother on Baikal: berries, mushrooms, fishing, swimming, and dad, if it were his will, without hesitation, would change places with Sanya. Only Sanya, of course, would refuse to change - and not because he did not want to visit the Baltic states and see Brest, he wanted to, and especially to Brest, but he preferred to be where there is no dad and mom, who would have managed to push in Brest him into a trench or a trench and would not be allowed to stick out, so that, God forbid, they would not get a bullet fired forty years ago. If parents have one child, they seem to fall into childhood themselves, continuing to play with him like with a doll until he pays off his own parental contribution. Sanya was embarrassed for his parents and felt sorry for them when he saw that, speaking in a normal and even language with his comrades, they immediately switched with him to the language of either immoderate ingratiation, or immoderate severity, doing both as if blindly, not seeing him, but only suspecting that he should be here, speaking not so much for him as for themselves, in order to prove something to each other. This is how he learned to relate to their words when they were together: this is not for him, they are for themselves. However, each of them individually could talk to him seriously. This was especially true for dad, and it was especially noticeable in him how embarrassing he was in front of his son for their common conversation with mom together, but the next time came, the time for the next conversation came up, and again everything was repeated all over again. “Like little ones, honestly, like little ones,” Sanya thought in the tone of them, annoyed and realizing that his parents in this respect are no worse and no better than others, and that a person in his weaknesses remains a child for life.

On Baikal, where Sanya came to visit his grandmother, luck continued. Three days passed - and suddenly a telegram was brought to the grandmother: leave urgently, Vera is in the hospital, the children are alone. Aunt Vera, my mother's sister, lived in the city of Nizhneangarsk in the northern Baikal, and now, therefore, she became seriously ill, and her husband is a geologist, he could not be reached in the taiga. Grandmother gasped, got lost: here is the boy in her arms, and there is no one knows what. Sanya's parents at that time were walking around Leningrad or rolling to Tallinn, everything came together better than anywhere else for Sanya, and he said: I'll be left alone. Aunt Galya, grandmother's neighbor, helped out, she agreed not only to feed her grandmother's piglets, but also to keep an eye on her grandson, and take him to her hut at night. Grandmother left, and Aunt Galya forgot to think about Sanya. True, she remembered about the pigs, and that was enough.

Sanya lived like a godfather to the king. He loved going to the store, cooking his own simple food, doing the little housework that was indispensable, he even loved weeding the beds in the garden, which he could not stand before, and made one important discovery: in his own life he moved ahead of everything, what surrounded him and what he had always had to be near. Nothing seemed to have changed, outwardly everything remained in its place and in its usual order ... except for one thing: he received an amazing ability to look back at this world and this order from a distance, he could enter it, but he could also go out. People only in someone else's opinion remain in the general row, each of them individually, in their own opinion, comes forward, otherwise life does not make sense. Much for Sanya was still in the fog, but the feeling that he had stepped forward was distinct and joyful, like a feeling of height when distances open up. Most of all, Sanya was struck by the fact that he came to this feeling and this discovery thanks to such a seemingly trifling thing as the need to mess around with the beds - the most unpleasant work - that came from somewhere in him. It was neither a desire nor a compulsion, but something else: I got up in the morning, and when thinking how best to put the coming day together, almost before everything else, a reminder of the beds comes to mind, which exactly converges with your own need for movement and action, just as you think of water only when you are thirsty.

Sleeping alone in an old hut, in which something constantly creaked and sighed, was not fun at first, but Sanya coped with fear in his own way - he read "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" before going to bed. The book was read and re-read, worn out to the last degree, which made the heart skip a beat from the terrible stories told in it, which in the new book can be mistaken for fiction, but not in the old one, you will inevitably believe in the old one, but after them, after these stories in the book, exalted in their beauty and horror to the very sky, with undertones from the underworld itself, there was no longer any strength and fear for their rustling behind the corner and behind the walls, and Sanya fell asleep. In his mind, the ghosts and evil spirits that were there, in the book, for some reason did not connect with those that could be here, as if not wanting to recognize the current emaciated and disgraced breed for their future, and Sanya, putting the book down, only with pity and he thought in bewilderment about all that he tried to fear, with pity not for himself, but for them: after all, what power they had and what they had sunk to! .. And then he got used to it. He is used to distinguishing distant, like groans, the signals of steamships at sea, the noise of the wind that picks up during the day and buzzes in the walls at night, the heavy creak of old larches in the yard and the deaf, mighty hum from Baikal, which calls in the darkness and cannot get through any your loss.

So Sanya lived for a week, slowly proud of himself, his independence and thriftiness, and worrying only that his grandmother would not come, from whom there was no news. Grandmother had a tear-off calendar hanging on the wall in her room; Sanya took off the leaves from it and put them on the bedside table next to the thick grandmother's slide in his own separate order, seeing in this some kind of unclear, but significant meaning.