Childhood Dreams

I was teaching a class of three year olds the other day and one of the standard things I do to get to know the children is to ask them a question. It could be any question from, "What is your favorite food" to "What sports do you like to play?" On this particular day the question was, "When you get to be big like me, what do you want to be." As I went down the line from child to child, the answers to my questions surprised me. They wanted to be doctors, lawyers, dentists, policemen, nurses and teachers.

Now do not get me wrong, these are all honorable career paths; but they are only three years old for heaven's sake. Where were the superheroes, sports players, princesses and cowboys? Where was the creativity, the imagination, the dream of at least wanting to be a famous actor or singer? All I wanted to be when I was a kid was a Planet of the Ape; but I got nothing from them, except answers that their parents had programmed into them at such a young age.

I looked on in disbelief thinking all hope was lost until I came to the last little boy in the row. When I asked him what he wanted to be, when he was big like me, he cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered, "I want to be a dragon." I stopped dead in my tracks and said, "What did you say to me?" He replied once again, "I want to be a dragon." My heart jumped with joy. There was still hope out there. There standing in front of me was a boy with endless possibilities in his mind. A dragon today could become a writer tomorrow. Allow your children to dream. Encourage them to dream. Do not limit their thoughts or force your aspirations upon them. This is their time to dream. Let them know that their future can be whatever they want it to be. After all, it is dreamers Like Shakespeare, Picasso, Einstein, Martin Luther King, Elvis and even Justin Bieber who chased their dreams and made this world a better place for us all. Dream on my friends, dream on.