Children are not empty buckets to be filled by the wisdom and talent of their parents. (Tweet that) Children are instead kindling, waiting to be lit by the activities that ignite their God-given passions.
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.”
William Butler Yeats
Last week I saw a couple living this out in a beautiful way. My friends Jon and Jenny have two little girls with distinct personalities and passions. Their oldest daughter worked for months and even sub-contracted her friends to create bracelets that she then sold at a handsome mark up. She’s a creative young girl who works hard and used the resources around her to build a small business. Her younger sister is also uniquely talented and used her skills to create custom light switches and keychains to also sell at the conference. Her younger sister created what she could and didn’t try to copy what her older sister did. She used what she had and made it work.
As I stood at the table buying their art I could see the differences in their personalities and the uniqueness of their passions. Jon and Jenny have very different personalities. The girls aren’t unique because their parents are. The girls are unique because they were made that way. Their parents are simply paying attention and allowing those differences to grow.
Make your life easier, get every post sent to your inbox by clicking here.
Parenting is about seeing
Parenting is more about seeing the potential of a child’s journey than about pushing them in a direction we know. (Tweet that) I cannot push my son to be more tough. He’s not a rough and tumble kind of kid. He’s sensitive and creative. That personality is his gift to the world and so we must pay attention to where he can go with that skill set. My youngest daughter has a very strong will. I cannot push her to obey. She’s not even two years old and I can already see a determined spirit in her. That’s a gift that will change the world for the better. It’s not my job to break her strong will, it’s my job to make sure that strong will gets used to make the world a better place.
What Jon and Jenny taught me this weekend is that parents can be the wind in the sails for their children but we don’t need to build the boat or steer the ship.(Tweet that) Jon and Jenny’s girls have most everything they need to grow and develop. The job of the parent is to identify those talents and fan the flames of those passions.
Children are not empty vessels waiting for us to fill them with our wisdom.
Children are better
Our children are better than us in many ways because of the lies they haven’t learned to believe yet. Children still believe the truth about themselves. How beautiful is that?
What are you?
My son believes he is an artist. He is an artist.
My daughter believes she is a dancer. She is a dancer.
Jon and Jenny’s daughters believe they are entrepreneurs and creatives. They are.
How many of us adults have believed the lie that we are not something that in fact we really are? (Tweet that) Children are not ignorant or idealistic, they are pure and optimistic.
Permission and Space
The greatest gifts parents give their children are permission and space. Permission and a space to try, that’s a lot less pressure than having to fill them up with every bit of knowledge they’ll ever attain.
When parents do their job their children become who they were meant to be. (Tweet that) We are much more responsible for allowing than we are for forming. Give your child the gift permission and space. As our children develop we don’t get to take credit for their skills but we can enjoy watching their skills develop as we provide them the permission and space to grow.
Make your life easier, get every post sent to your inbox by clicking here.
