– Mackenzie Free –
Childhood sure has changed a lot over the last 40 years. In fact, it’s been almost completely rewritten over the years.
If a great childhood, by today’s standards, is now defined by expensive toys, designer clothes, lavish vacations or a million pre-planned, carefully curated, activities … my kids won’t have one.
But I will give them a childhood filled with simplicity, freedom and boredom.
I’ll give them the gift of simplicity … the opportunity to slow down, unplug and enjoy life. We threw away nearly all mainstream toys years ago and realized less really is more. Kids really don’t need the constant bombardment of “things” to be content. Too much ‘stuff’ creates imagination stagnation. It stifles their creativity.
I’ll give them freedom … to roam, to play and get dirty. I will give them the freedom to climb trees, play in the creek, catch fish and poke ant hills with a stick. Freedom to get bug bites, bloody knees, splinters, holes in their clothes and to learn lots of lessons the hard way. I’ll give them the freedom to be kids.
And I’ll give them boredom … perhaps the best gift I can give them. Because a great imagination is born from boredom. And a great imagination gives way to ideas and innovation as they grow up. So, I encourage boredom often because their best ideas will be found there. I let them wonder, wander, try and entertain their own ideas.
The best gift we can give our children is their childhood.
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
