‘wild nature’ that kids were exposed
to before the age of 11.
As kids work out who they are,
they start kicking around their fu-
ture lives – sometimes in elaborate
detail. Graphic designer and pod-
caster Debbie Millman discovered
as an adult a drawing she’d made as
a young girl. “It predicted my whole
life,” she recalled recently. There she
was, ten-year-old Deb-
bie, on the streets of
New York.
“I’m walking with
my mother. There are
buildings and buses
and taxis and cleaners.
I labelled everything.
In the middle of the
street there’s a deliv-
ery truck. The sign on the side of it
says ‘Lay’s Potato Chips.’ ” When she
found that old drawing, Millman
was, after many career meander-
ings, drawing logos for a living in
New York.
Writer Mary Karr revealed she still
has a journal from when she was
ten. “One of the entries says, ‘When
I grow up I will write one-half poetry
and one-half autobiography.’ I also
say, ‘I am not very successful as a lit-
tle girl. When I grow up, I will proba-
bly be a mess.’ ” Karr, who had an up-
and-down life and spent some time
in a mental institution, bloomed into
a memoirist with three acclaimed
bestsellers.
The term ‘inner child’ got kicked to
the kerb sometimearoundtheturn
of the millennium,butfolks,grab
a shovel. It’stimetoresurrectthat
inner child.Becausethestifledvoice
of the kid inyou– specifically,the
ten-year-oldkidinyou– hasnever
needed to beheardmore.
Age ten isa developmentalsweet
spot. You’reoldenoughtoknow
what lightsyouup,yetnotsoold
thatadultshaveex-
tinguishedthatfireby
dumpingmoreprac-
tical and ‘realistic’
optionsonit.Inother
words,ageten con-
tains,inasense,our
sourcecode.Inthe
past,asmanyas 85 per
cent of people sur-
veyed said theyfailedtofindmuch
meaning intheirjobsandwould
take a pay cutinexchangefora more
fulfilling position.Thewaterfoun-
tain of the internetmakessurewe
drink beforewe’rethirsty(ormaybe
more accurately,beforewe’vedecid-
ed what we’rethirstyfor).Themost
reliable signalofwhatmightactual-
ly fulfil us isgettinglostinthenoise.
If you reallylisten,though,youcan
hear it.
Ten year oldsareabouttoexperi-
ence the biggestsurgeofintellectu-
al horsepowerintheirlifetimes,as
measured bygainsinexecutivefunc-
tion. But withthosegainswillcome
some losses,asthedivergentthink-
ing of childhoodstartstogivewaytoAT TEN, THE
LIGHTS COME
ON FULL BEAM,
REVEALING THE
ROAD AHEAD133
The Genius Section