You plan a lovely outing to an art museum, hoping to awaken the Michelangelo in their hearts.
A week later, you share the story of your field trip with a friend, feeling a bit smug about your family’s brilliant foray into the world of fine art. Playing nearby, your enthusiastic eight-year old pipes up with a big grin: "You wouldn't believe how loud the toilets flushed in the bathroom there!"
Wow. So the one compelling memory of this carefully planned afternoon was of the plumbing volume. So much for your hopes for raising the next Renoir.
A story like this one has happened to every parent. While we think we’re teaching a lesson on ecology, kids are riveted by the dead bug squished on the sidewalk. We take flowers on a nursing home visit and our children spend the whole time fighting over who gets to play with the nurse call button at the bedside.
The problem is that kids and grownups see the world differently. We’ve heard loudly flushing toilets and stepped over flattened bugs on the sidewalk too many times to count. Adults are accustomed to the mundane, and have learned to look beyond it.
But not children. They still see and hear everything, fascinated by every bit of it.
A loud toilet is a real attention-grabber for kids as they compare the hurricane-like flush to the soft swishing sound of their home commodes. And spotting a dead bug on the sidewalk? That experience could make for several hours of fascination.
But does kids’ interest in minutiae indicate a lack of interest in the profound? Absolutely not. The inspiring experiences we offer our children lay down an important framework in our kids’ minds. These exposures provide glimpses of possibility in our children in a way that flushing toilets and squashed bugs don’t.
Inspiration settles in with kids for the long haul, and many years later we may see evidence of its impact as we watch them be moved by a beautiful piece of music or carry out an act of such nobility it takes our breath away.
When parents offer inspiration to their children, we’re planting the seeds of beautiful perennials. These lovely flowers may not blossom for some time, but—when they do—will bloom again and again.
