Dear Jessica Brennan,
Childhood is a funny thing. We all had one, and it never leaves us. We sentimentalize it, refer back to it, blame it. We never actually escape it, and when we get super-old, we often return to it.
For this reason, childhood is too short and quite long at the same time.
Kids are pretty amazing. Ask them anything and they will figure it out for you. If you tell a five year old that you’re having a bad day, they will immediately ask you why. When you tell them why, they will come up with a solution. “You should have a cookie and nap time”.
Thank you, I think I will.
It seems to me that I would handle things differently if I was the parent of a small child now. I guess that’s normal, to see things more clearly after you’ve done them, but I think that every child over about age six should be asked regularly, “How’s your childhood going?”
Apart from the fact that some of the answers will make great wedding videos down the road, I think kids who are raised under so-called normal situations, decide quite young what kind of human beings they are going to turn out to be, so knowing that their childhood matters might give them a voice in how it unfolds and ultimately how they feel about it all as adults.
Imagine being given the opportunity to speak up about your young life, while you’re actually living it. Instead of, “I’ll tell you how your childhood is going to go young lady”, maybe a better approach is to ask how it could be better.
I mean childhood is a time we romanticize with such intensity, that it must be worth some input from the participant?
Just a thought.
Love, Mum xo
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