Aug
31
2017
Let Them Be Little
Posted in Motherhood 4 Comments
A Hobby Lobby store opened nearby.
It is a store where I can always find something unique.
It is another store to add to my list of favorites.
I was just there with my youngest daughter before she went back to college.
A few days later I was back again, by myself this time.
When I was with my daughter, I simply browsed.
I stopped at the section where all the wooden signs are found.
There was one sign that caught my eye.
It was a small square sign that was in the section with signs for a nursery.
I loved what the sign said.
I agreed with what the sign said.
In simple letters, the sign read: Let them be little.
Let them be little.
Four words that said it all.
A reminder that should not have to be given.
A reminder that unfortunately needs to be repeated in our culture.
Ask any mother with grown children and she will tell you how quickly the time passes.
I see posts, especially this time of year, where mothers are asking for tissues.
Mothers are calling for time to stand still.
Mothers are lamenting that their children are growing up much too fast.
Yet the culture says, Hurry up.
Hurry up and wear clothes that make you look much older than you are.
Hurry up and lay aside the toys of childhood.
Hurry up and fill a schedule with so many activities, there is simply no time to be little.
The sign said so much.
Lying on the grass, seeing faces in the clouds, seems like a waste of time.
Playing outside, riding bikes, drawing with sidewalk chalk seems unproductive.
Coming home from school and not having an activity to rush to seems neglectful.
Drawing, playing music, or writing stories and poetry just for fun seems odd.
How far we have moved away from the way it was.
We schedule every minute and wonder why stress is a problem.
We eat food on the run and wonder why we never sit down for a meal as a family.
We have tables and desks at home but find that more often than not, homework is done on laps.
Let them be little.
When I went back to Hobby Lobby by myself, the sign was gone.
I hope they are getting more of those signs in one of their shipments.
Even though my children are grown, I would like that sign in my house as a reminder.
I would like all who look at that sign to think about how we must allow children to be children.
I have read articles about schools in other parts of the world that are encouraging play.
These schools are incorporating more recess into the day.
They find that the children do better when they are allowed to play.
The children do better when they are allowed to be little.
I remember when my daughter graduated from college and began to teach.
She was a kindergarten teacher then.
I remember helping her set up her classroom.
I remember the play corner.
There was a wonderful kitchen with pretend food.
There were empty boxes of cereal, crackers, and other items so the children could have a store.
There was a shopping cart for the make-believe groceries.
There was even a cash register so they could buy their groceries and use pretend money.
Learning was happening while the children were playing.
They were learning to take turns, make choices, and handle pretend money.
They were learning and practicing simple math.
They were learning life skills as part of their play.
Eventually, my daughter was needed to teach second grade.
In the years since she has left kindergarten, it has changed immensely.
The play corner is less hands on play and more mental activities.
Many marvelous items in the play corner cannot be found in a kindergarten room any more.
Hurry up.
Do your homework.
Study for the test.
Get good grades.
We are rushing our children through a wonderful stage that they will never get back again.
We are rushing them through childhood.
They grow up rushing through the simple skills they would have learned through play.
Everything becomes competitive and driven instead of relaxed and free-spirited.
Imaginary friends disappear.
That favorite stuffed animal stays home on the bed.
Imaginative play must fit into the little free time they have in their day.
There are days when the inside of a building or the inside of a car is all they ever experience.
It is refreshing to see a child who acts like a child.
It is refreshing to see innocence that the world has not usurped with its schedules and deadlines.
It is refreshing to see skipping and singing, drawing and coloring, just because.
It is refreshing to see a child be a child.
It means being counter cultural so children can do the simple things.
The world will not help you.
The world will push you and make demands on you.
The world will fill you with guilt if you are not keeping up with some nebulous standard.
Just say, No!
Skip away with your child and take a nature walk.
Stop and smell the flowers as you watch the bees go from flower to flower.
Listen to the leaves rustle as the breeze passes through them.
And marvel.
Marvel that you are here with your child and you have time.
You have time to watch them enjoy doing the things that children do.
Hurry up is not in your vocabulary.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. (1 Corinthians 13:11)
There is time soon enough to be an adult.
There is precious little time to be a child.
Let them be little.
Oh, how I hope there are more of those signs in the next shipment.
J.J. Heller -Paving the Runway (You’re Gonna Fly)
Such a sweet post! I thoroughly agree with you, that children aren’t allowed enough time to just be themselves; time is too structured for them. It’s the parents who do that, and it stifles creativity. I cherish the time I had when I was little to play and imagine and create, and my two great-grandsons who are being home-schooled are getting extra time to create too. I loved the song!
Sue,
Children love when you spend time with them. Time spent with them is never wasted. Children will always remember the time you spend with them more than the things you buy for them. I love the song as well.
Gina
Enjoyed your article. Stacie and I were just talking about this.
Janet,
You and Stacie know that her children will not stay little forever.
I am certain you both treasure this precious time in their lives.
I am sure your are tucking every sweet moment in your heart.
Gina