Friday, August 27, 2010

They won't just walk... they'll fly!


When my kids were very little, I was told repeatedly that if I did not put them down, they would never learn to walk.

But I did not put them down, not until they asked (twice) to come down from my hip.

And they sure learned to walk.

They learned to run.

And they learned to fly.

During the course of few weeks, one flew to Brazil, one jumped out of an airplane and one ... flew an airplane.

They are not the scared, dependent little people that I was warned about. They are curious and they are confident enough to converse with their curiosity, to dance with it. They walk the world feeling safe.

It reminds me of a line I read once, many years ago before I even had children. It is from Bryce Courtenay's character, Peekay. Peekay, recalling his childhood, says: "in giving me independence of thought, they had given me the greatest gift and adult can give to a child besides love. And they had given me that, also."

It is hard to feel true independence of thought when we are "needing," when our basic needs are not met. Sometimes, this takes sitting on a loving hip for a couple of years.  



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