Let Children Be Children
TO IMAGINE, TO CREATE, TO THINK
By Al Garcia
How the days of my childhood bring back wonderous memories that still fill me with awe and wonderment. Childhood, before the current age of privilege and indulgence, was a simpler time, for simple minds just forming and evolving. It was a time of reflections in the sun, of dirty faces and scraped knees, and of exhausted bodies and souls, sprawled beneath the willow trees, spinning yarns and fairytales, and making believe that witches fly over the moon, and magic carpets can carry them off to far off lands where stardust and snowflakes rain down on a land of make-believe castles they have built in the air.
How innocent the mind of a child back then. How uncluttered and free we were to explore, to imagine, to create, and to think. How the days of childhood have changed, and how the sprouting of the child within has withered and shriveled with each passing season.
In our time, we created a world built by our imagination and our vision, and inspired by our curiosity and wonder. It was the lazy, hazy days of carefree summer days, and the inquisitive nature of our hungry and thirsty minds that made our childhood days so full and so exhilarating and exhausting.
Today, the days of childhood are filled with gadgets, contraptions, devices, gismos and doodads that manipulate and control a child’s mind, instead of inspiring, stimulating or stirring their imagination, creativity or ingenuity. Today, the days of childhood are planned and scheduled, each moment accounted for, each activity designed and devised. Little, if anything, left to childish play, or mischiefs or tomfooleries that shape and mold the changing and evolving character and mind of the child within. Today, the world is creating and molding the child of tomorrow, instead of the child discovering the world, and seeing their reflection in dreams that will challenging and change the world around them.
It is good to be able to provide a child a life of privilege and indulgence, especially if it reflects our own ascension in a society and a world that once may have disparaged us, or even rejected us. However, that is no excuse for overlooking or disregarding the naturalness of letting a child, be a child.
The world around us is built on imagination and vision, on inspiration and motivation. A child must be see their reflection in the sun, must feel dirt on their face and sense the pain of a scape on their knee. And a child must feel the exhaustion of his body and his soul, as they sprawl out beneath a willow tree, spinning yarns and fairytales, and making believe that witches can fly over the moon, and that magic carpets can carry them off to far off lands where stardust and snowflakes rain down on a land of make-believe castles they have built in the air.
To hinder a child’s ability to imagine, to create, to think, is to destroy the child within that will define a lifetime to be lived. We should not have to look back with pangs guilt or regret at the promises lost or the possibilities squandered.