The Conscious Parent

disappear to? How much of its loss are we responsible for?
In innumerable subtle and not-so-subtle ways, we chip away at our
children’s ability to think the impossible, thereby limiting them to live
in boxes that are comfortable for us. We tell ourselves this is for their
own good, but in truth it’s to quell our anxiety. Steadily, we erode their
sense of life as magical in the service of “reality.” Listen to some of the
things we tell them:
“You can’t be a race car driver; it’s too dangerous” “First learn to sit
still, then talk about being a scientist” “You don’t have an ear for music,
so how can you be a singer?” “Acting is for dreamers”
“People in our family don’t become gardeners” “You are too short to
be a model”
“I think you should be a teacher”
“I think you would be a wonderful doctor.”
When children are full of confidence, seeing only abundance,
opportunity, expansion, and adventure, they have an oceanic faith in the
goodness of the universe. It’s our spiritual obligation to allow them to
foster and nurture their innate capacity to engage life. It’s too early for
us to burst their bubble. Let them dance and not worry about the
performance at the end. Let them draw and not concern themselves with
how good or bad the product is. Let them go to school and not be anxious
about the grade they get, realizing that when we are overly invested in
grades or how well they do at a certain hobby, they begin to lose interest
in the learning and focus only on the perfection of the outcome. Let them
fly in their imagination without us telling them they are impractical for
doing so.