Kids: Encourage Adult Imagination
Children have great imaginations and are encouraged by adults to use them. But have adults lost their ability to imagine?
Imagination is an important and amazing aspect of childhood. It seems like we lose imagination as we age. How do we go about getting it back? Ask a child...
Writing two pieces on imagination was an eye opening experience for me. Not because I was so excited by what I wrote, but because it made me think about my own imagination. I am a writer and so people expect me to have a great imagination. I also draw and paint, so that must mean I have twice the imagination, right? Well, I'm not so sure!
Do we lose our ability to imagine as we get older? Obviously, as adults we don't dress in a cape and spend hours pretending to be a member of the Incredibles. That would only lead to a reputation as a crazy person. But for a child, that kind of wild, over-the-top experience is normal...even envied. Kids are allowed to break all the social and societal rules and norms that as adults we strictly adhere to. We learn as we grow older to not loudly comment on other people, ask strangers if they know where the BFG lives or wear a tutu with jeans.
Sure, I'm not advocating any of those activities. But its the spirit of those activities that got me thinking. Children are given the freedom to act on their impulses and to dream as big as they can. It seems like it would benefit us as adults to inject a little more of that attitude into our lives. The best way I've found to recapture some of my lost imaginative tendencies is to hang around with a child. Try it someday soon and see if focusing your whole attention on the here-and-now with a particular child doesn't widen your horizons and make you feel like being a superhero today.
