The Work of Childhood

But in this Back-to-School season, I inevitably think of children and reflect on childhood across the ages. There are a few reasons why it is more poignant this season. Earlier in the summer I heard a gentleman speak at a charity event, and he was extraordinary. Having rescued his daughter and grandchildren from an impossibly difficult situation in the middle of the night, he said that it was all worth it when he “saw the child come back to the children”, when they could play again freely and without fear. There’s an awful lot we could do with that statement alone. But in concluding he said something else I’ll never forget: “it’s far easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken adults”. And I can’t help but wonder what changes would be made in our society and how we prioritize those zillions of things we all need to do if everyone who touches the lives of children just kept that mantra at the forefront of their thinking and their resulting behaviors.

I also listened recently to my wife’s stories recounting the experiences she and her delegation had this summer with the children in remote mountain villages in El Salvador, how they played, how they were just being children, like all the others in villages, towns and cities around the globe. And I read an essay by one of her delegates, now a young adult and about to go off to university who recognizes and values the special role he enjoys with his “second family” in Central America, and especially its children and their impact on his life and his impact on theirs.

Lastly, I heard just this week of a woman who almost on the spur of the moment rescued a distant relative’s child, turning hers and her husband’s lives upside down in one afternoon with no time to prepare. There are many stories of how considerate this youngster is and how much joy it brings the family just to see him play with all the other children. When she shared this story with strangers through teary eyes and without asking, clothing, toys and games appeared the next day for her to take home, just to help this boy learn to play again.

Fred Rogers said with great insight and reverence “play really is the work of childhood”. If we believe that, we really shouldn’t be in any big rush to chase the natural, blessed child out of our children. But instead, to nurture it, celebrate it, enjoy it and let it play. The longer, the better.