Lucy: Look, dadda, the moon!

Me: Oh, yeah, that is the moon. Very cool!

Lucy: Dadda, bring it down here.

Me: I wish I could!

Lucy: No, dadda, jump up and get it.

Me: I wish I could do that too! It’s really, really, really far away.

Lucy: No, dadda, jump up high and bring it down here.

Conversations like that are what’s amazing about kids – they don’t have any idea of what’s not possible. Whereas our (us “grown ups”) first instinct, a lot of the time, is that’s not possible or I can’t do that. Something changes us and our outlook. I’m thinking school [with varying degrees of crushing negativism, depending on race/class/gender] or maybe it’s just us “grown ups” projecting our own ingrained negative thinking upon kids. What ever it is, I think it’s pretty sad.  Imagine how much more we could accomplish if we first thought in terms of ‘how can I do that’, rather than ‘why I can’t do that’.

Just something to think about when you have an idea, goal, or challenge in front of you… it might not be bringing the moon down to your kid, but it still can be something as ‘simple’ as that project you  always talked yourself out of starting.