Preserving childhood

Recently, a very deliberate homeschooling mother, and friend, told me that she does everything possible to preserve childhood for her only daughter. Her daughter (almost 14-years-old) who is absolutely delightful, mature beyond her age, very bright, and extremely well-rounded is teaching our girls how to knit once a week. She is not boy crazy, she doesn't have a poster of teen movie stars on her wall, and she is not hankering for her own cell phone. Instead her room still has a full-size dollhouse, and she has an American Girl Doll collection that is very distracting to the girls! Her mother told me, "I tell Kylie that she has her whole life to watch movies, to have a cell phone, and to have boy relationships; she only has ONE chance at childhood".

I've thought about that comment all week. The culture around us tries to rob our children of a long and rich childhood. A childhood free from care and worry. A childhood of exploration and imagination. A childhood of discovery and fascination. A childhood of innocence.

My brother recently quoted Finding Neverland where Johnny Depp's character says to the mother of young boys jumping from bed to bed, "It's such a shame to send little boys to bed, for they wake up a day older". If my perspective is to preserve childhood an occasional bed jumping (or running through fountains with your clothes on while yelling like maniacs, or making wonderful creations in the kitchen without a care) is not only allowed, it's encouraged!

So my new phrase to the girls will be, "You will have a whole life with this or that...but you only have one chance at childhood". I really hope they listen because it goes by fast!