One of the neatest privileges of parenting is witnessing first-hand the serendipitous moments that children create with their imagination. One of the best pieces of advice I received early-on in my parenting adventure was to slow down, step back and allow your children to help you see the world as a child again…through their imagination.
When R was a toddler, I loved the simple excitement of him seeing a worm squirm in the dirt in the spring or watching his eyes light up as a “helicopter” or “twirly-bird” leaves fall from a maple tree in the autumn. How often I was blessed to see things anew through his child-like perspective...and continue to do so.
Both R and G have great imaginations, so I am constantly charmed with their simple observations and statements. But the other day, during a busy after-school/pre-homework/dinner preparation time, I was hurrying around the kitchen while G and R shared a snack. Suddenly I noticed how quiet the kitchen had become, an unusual sound for our particular kitchen.
I looked over at G and R, who were both crouched over R’s snack.
I heard R say: “Do you think I can make an ‘H’ G?”
G: “Yep!”
R: “Oh look, I did it! I spelled ‘Ohio!’”
And at that I walked over and saw that R had taken his pretzels and created:
He also had somehow, almost magically, spelled out his name with pretzels too. Amazing!
How two little boys came up with letter after letter from a simple pretzel is beyond me. But their eyes, minds and creativity had created a wonderful memory—for them and for me.
SPC