Imagination Station by Marla
Posted on Thursday, September 29th, 2011 |
Imagination Station
By Marla Montbriand
This past weekend, my 2 nieces stayed the night at my house. Somewhere between going to Gymco’s Princess Party Saturday night, watching “All Dogs Go To Heaven”, and going to church with them on Sunday morning, I learned something very important from them. This may sound crazy that I, a 24 year old girl, learned something from my 8 year old and 5 year old nieces but once you read this, hopefully your eyes will be opened to the same thing next time you’re with young children.
Have you ever noticed that society today has specific expectations for adults? Most of the time, we are expected to be professional and sophisticated human beings. Children on the other hand, are goofy, imaginative, and careless souls. Why can’t we be? Why can’t we pick our wedgies while waiting in line at the grocery store? Why can’t we pretend we are beauty queens posing in front of store windows as we pass by, completely unaware of any onlookers? At what point did we make this transition into self-awareness, where we are conscious of what we do and how others perceive it? My 5 year old niece, for example, made a video on my computer this past weekend, where she acted like a total goof-ball and was completely content in doing so. She simply spoke her mind and let her imagination run wild. Sometimes, while at Gymco, I’ll ask my students to make up a story to go along with whatever we are working on that day and they are always so good at it. To be completely honest, they have better imaginations than I do! Whether we end up pretending we are Mario and Luigi saving Princess Peach from Bowser’s castle or simply trying not to fall off the balance beams into the burning hot lava, they have a blast and do not care if they look silly doing it.
Not only do kids have great imaginations and not care what others may think, but they observe and watch the things taking place around them without casting any judgment. For instance, last week I had a 3 year old completely undress just to go potty. This was outside of the bathroom stall with other little girls all around and not one of them even acknowledged that their classmate was naked! Their one goal is to enjoy themselves, whether it’s swinging on the rope swing over and over again or running into mommy and daddy’s arms when they pick them up from an awesome day of Discovery Preschool.
Maybe it is time for us to be living with the same pursuit in life. We should be able to enjoy ourselves and let our imaginations run wild without worrying what those around us will think and without casting judgment on those we encounter day to day that don’t live up to “society’s expectations”. Now, don’t go around picking your wedgies in the grocery stores, people. However, I think there is something to be said about still using our imaginations and being carefree, even if it means getting a few awkward stares every once in awhile!