This morning I spent an hour with four young children – two boys who will be three years old in a few weeks and two girls who are each four years old. I wish I had a video of the time because it was fascinating. I haven’t been around that much imagination in a long while.
In the span of 60 minutes, here are some of the things that happened:
- they surfed around the room on Styrofoam surfboards, occasionally being eaten by sharks and dying, but nothing that pixie dust couldn’t cure;
- one boy gave both girls quite thoughtful haircuts – he’s a natural;
- they all danced as couples, lining up in what I thought might be a chorus line at any moment;
- they ate various foods, one of them fixing me the yummy breakfast of a waffle, an Oreo cookie, peas, and a bagel (which I mistakenly identified as a donut until corrected);
- they argued over who would be which Disney character, changing roles as needed;
- they took a while to figure out who would play whom in the story of baby Jesus (I must’ve missed the part about the mermaid in the Bible);
- they took cover under the tables several times from sundry threats, occasionally dying, but nothing that pixie dust couldn’t cure;
- they negotiated with the cleverness of a used car salesman;
- they argued over which black baby doll would be Jesus in the manger, agreeing after a while that Jesus had a twin brother, so they could keep both;
- they all put on skirts for various roles;
- one seemed to be the most authoritative and eager to “suggest” what the others should do, with suggestions from others OK once they were her ideas;
- there were a few moments of physical confrontation that needed intervention.
All in all, it was a very eventful hour. I’m sure I’m forgetting most of what happened.
When I compare the imagination of each of these wonderful children today to that of most adults (including myself), I can’t help but wonder where we lose that capacity – or, if not the capacity, then the willingness to be imaginative. Adults need much more of that.
Leap year lesson #350 is Hang on to imagination.
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