--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When one is a child, the disposition of…" description: "\"When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables and chairs and doors, seems part of the natural order: a house-move lets in chaos - as it does ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png" --- # When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables… ![“When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables and chairs and doors, seems part of the natural order: a house-move lets in chaos - as it does for a dog.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png) > “When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables and chairs and doors, seems part of the natural order: a house-move lets in chaos - as it does for a dog.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Children perceive household objects as natural, so moving house creates chaos for them, similar to a dog’s confusion. **In simple terms:** Kids see furniture as normal; moving disrupts that order. Key Takeaway Acknowledge children’s disorientation during moves. Themes childhood perception disruption environment adaptation Mood empathetic reflective Type advice observational When to use this quote - moving house - parenting - school transitions - pet relocation Key Concepts developmental psychology environmental perception family dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How can parents ease a child’s adjustment? - What routines help restore normalcy? A Different Perspective Children may feel loss of control, not just chaos. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaos/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Dog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dog/) [Natural order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-order/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) ## Related quotes > [All my life I have said, "Whatever happens there will always be tables and chairs"--and what a mistake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/all-my-life-i-have-said-whatever-happens-there-will-always-be-tables/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-boyle/if-we-grew-our-own-food-we-wouldn-t-waste-a-third-of-it-as-we-do/) [Mark Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-boyle/) > [Ibsen is like this room where we are sitting, with all the tables and chairs. 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Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/all-minds-quote-old-and-new-make-the-warp-and-woof-of-every-moment/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“We must always have order in this house. Everything has a time and a purpose. If we maintain order..." "We never leave chaos an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiersten-white/we-must-always-have-order-in-this-house-everything-has-a-time-and-a/) [Kiersten White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiersten-white/) > [How many more times are we going to cower under tables and chairs, whimpering like mindless dogs, thinking that someone else has the responsibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-nugent/how-many-more-times-are-we-going-to-cower-under-tables-and-chairs/) [Ted Nugent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-nugent/) > [in a Home it must be order or ruin. Order is to the house as morality to the human being - a sheet-anchor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-mcnair-wright/in-a-home-it-must-be-order-or-ruin-order-is-to-the-house-as-morality/) [Julia McNair Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-mcnair-wright/) > [“I just didn’t realize B.C. (Before Children) how much work it takes to maintain some sort of order in your house.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-o-bryant/i-just-didn-t-realize-b-c-before-children-how-much-work-it-takes-to/) [Robin O'Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-o-bryant/) > [It is true that there is nothing like a blaze in the hearth to soothe the nerves and restore order to a house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-antrim/it-is-true-that-there-is-nothing-like-a-blaze-in-the-hearth-to-soothe/) [Donald Antrim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-antrim/) > [Forget the noose. Forget the Iron Maiden. Forget the electric chair or the guillotine. The mind was mankind's most painful torture chamber, the blessed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffanie-debartolo/forget-the-noose-forget-the-iron-maiden-forget-the-electric-chair-or/) [Tiffanie DeBartolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffanie-debartolo/) > [“It was not enough that food aplenty was within Man’s grasp: he wanted more. It was not enough that prey surrendered themselves to Man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bowles/it-was-not-enough-that-food-aplenty-was-within-man-s-grasp-he-wanted/) [David Bowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bowles/) > [“A natural order is a stable order. There is no chance that gravity will cease to function tomorrow, even if people stop believing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/a-natural-order-is-a-stable-order-there-is-no-chance-that-gravity/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Chairs quotes > [“Yes, when I get big and have my own home, no plush chairs and lace curtains for me. And no rubber plants. I'll have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-smith/yes-when-i-get-big-and-have-my-own-home-no-plush-chairs-and-lace/) [Betty Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-smith/) > [I've always thought that the most extraordinary special effect you could do is to buy a child at the moment of its birth, sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/i-ve-always-thought-that-the-most-extraordinary-special-effect-you/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/i-had-three-chairs-in-my-house-one-for-solitude-two-for-friendship/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of the house to give embroidery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/he-sank-into-the-rocking-chair-the-same-one-in-which-rebecca-had-sat/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Forget the noose. Forget the Iron Maiden. Forget the electric chair or the guillotine. The mind was mankind's most painful torture chamber, the blessed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffanie-debartolo/forget-the-noose-forget-the-iron-maiden-forget-the-electric-chair-or/) [Tiffanie DeBartolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffanie-debartolo/) > [I thought being in the wheelchair might be kind of limiting for me as an actor. It turned out cool in a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-beaver/i-thought-being-in-the-wheelchair-might-be-kind-of-limiting-for-me-as/) [Jim Beaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-beaver/) > [Now know I well what people sought formerly above all else when they sought Teachers of virtue. Good sleep they sought for themselves, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/now-know-i-well-what-people-sought-formerly-above-all-else-when-they/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Keelhaul the poets in the vestry chairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-shapiro/keelhaul-the-poets-in-the-vestry-chairs/) [Karl Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-shapiro/) > [He's earned all his money himself, with his fists. He didn't steal it like the rest of our politicians. And he'll be less tempted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vitali-klitschko/he-s-earned-all-his-money-himself-with-his-fists-he-didn-t-steal-it/) [Vitali Klitschko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vitali-klitschko/) > [Dentists tell you not to pick your teeth with any sharp metal object. Then you sit in their chair and the first thing they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-cosby/dentists-tell-you-not-to-pick-your-teeth-with-any-sharp-metal-object/) [Bill Cosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-cosby/) > [Once I was in a restaurant and I dropped my fork on the floor, and they gave me a new fork. So I pushed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emo-philips/once-i-was-in-a-restaurant-and-i-dropped-my-fork-on-the-floor-and/) [Emo Philips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emo-philips/) > [I'm not a big hijinker. 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He had also eaten part of Mom's maidenhair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-tiernan/of-course-when-we-got-home-we-found-that-dagda-had-peed-on-my-down/) [Cate Tiernan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-tiernan/) Browse all 1,120 Chairs quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables and chairs and doors, seems part of the natural order: a house-move lets in chaos - as it does for a dog.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-objects-tables-and-chairs-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Chairs" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-objects-tables-and-chairs-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_chairs_when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-o_276616.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables and chairs and doors, seems part of the natural…” — Elizabeth Bowen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elizabeth Bowen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "When one is a child, the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-objects-tables-and-chairs-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/when-one-is-a-child-the-disposition-of-objects-tables-and-chairs-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```