Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) June/July 2018 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 65

Let them be kids:
One way to lighten young hearts is to shield
them from TV, especially news, with its
searing, rapid-fire images. When children
encounter real-life sorrows, such as the
clearcutting of a beloved forest, parents can
validate their grief and outrage, reminding
them that many adults are working to protect
forests. By broadcasting “We’ll take care
of you” messages, parents free children to
learn about and love the world at a healthy,
childlike pace.
Empower them:
Child-led play fuels young imaginations and
sense of agency in their world. That requires
ample down time, adult non-interference,
and the occasional magic wand. Even one
box of sidewalk chalk on an apartment
balcony can provide endless fun, especially
if parents don’t stop kids from grinding chalk
into “potions.” Kids benefit from imagining
sandcastles, treehouses, and couch-
cushion forts and then manifesting those
Kids also need to develop muscles and
coordination through joyful, free movement
and physical risks such as leaping, climbing,
balancing, and, yes, sometimes falling.
Leisurely hangouts at the park or beach help
on this front, and the occasional scrapes are
well worth the sense of freedom. Children
are also empowered by learning mastery
over fire, knives, and, eventually, power
tools, not just because those tools develop
focus and problem-solving skills, but
because they help kids build and survive—
in the real world. (continued)
Unplug them:
Screens, like razor blades and matches,
can either serve or harm. The same holds
true for mobile technology, with its 24/7
social media frenzy, addictive games, and
ferocious marketing. It’s harder than ever to
keep kids in the real world, especially now
that adults have fallen down the rabbit hole
ourselves. To k eep screens in their proper
places—as servants to a rich, connected
family life—parents can remember two
things:
1) Marketers are trying to get our kids
screen-addicted.
2) 
Parents stand between children
and those marketers—and we make
family rules.
Saying “no” to screens is easier when
we’re also saying “yes” to fun. We stock
our living room with games, art supplies,
and ukuleles—music is both fun and good
65
At bedtime one night, my four-year-old
nephew said to his mom, “I don’t want to be
alive anymore. The Earth will die, and I don’t
want to be here when everything’s dead.”
Like many children, he’d absorbed our
culture’s steady dirge about drowning polar
bears and deadly superstorms. His mother
reassured him, but it reminded me that
society, with its “save-the-Earth!” message
on everything from kids’ games to breakfast
cereals, can inadvertently burden young
minds and hearts. Young children need to
know adults are in charge and things will
be okay. As one 14-year-old testified to our
city council while requesting climate action,
“What kids want most is freedom from fear.”
visions through unhurried trial and error. This
kind of master-of-the-world play is profound
for developing children’s capacity to design
and build their lives—and democracies.