In a child's world, adults know the answers. Our kids ask us questions...and we always know the answers, or at the very least, toss off a response for that moment.
One day, I was stumped...by a very simple question asked by my then eight-year old son.
"Mom, if you could have a superpower, what would it be?" From the serious look on his face and tone of his voice, this question was an important one. He had been mulling this over for quite some time.
Frankly, I was stumped.
I realized that my adult brain rewired itself to adeptly handle mountains of details - from computer passwords to business deadlines to the release date for the next Harry Potter book - that somewhere along the way...my childlike imagination needed rebooting.
"Well, I guess flying would be cool...but being invisible has its advantages," I slowly began. He quickly flipped through other options..running at lightning speed, reading other people's thoughts, scanning with x-ray eyes.
Today, I told this story to a colleague, who chuckled. Then asked, "So what did you finally answer? What was your superpower?"
I am still stumped...still rewiring my brain to let it wildly imagine.
May be it's time to lug out the packed away Legos and just play for a while.
I haven't been on the receiving end of that specific question - yet. (But I suspect I will one day, when my 2-year-old son discovers Superheros), however, I have been asked by my 6-year-old daughter a similar question: What talent would I like to have?
ReplyDeleteMy daugher LOVES Tinkerbell and all her fairy friends who live in Pixie Hollow Each fairy has a special "talent", Tinkerbell happens to have the talent for "tinkering" i.e. she fixes things, etc. (I equate it to being an engineer!). There is Silvermist, who is a water fairy (a oceanographer, perhaps), Rosetta is a garden fairy (maybe a botanist) Iridessa is a light fairy (the next Thomas Edison?), and Fawn is an animal fairy (a veterinarian?). There is one more - Vidia, but I don't remember her "talent".
So when I got this question, my adult mind went to "I have no talent" because I equate this word with the gifted - musician, artists, etc. Of course I did not say this, instead I understood this to be a moment to engage in the fun of imagination! But I was cleaning up after dinner, not feeling particularly creative and I said "what about the cleaning fairy". Naturally I laughed to myself because I know we ALL wish there was such a thing. Then I went on to "the book fairy" the "handwriting fairy", etc. All things immediate in her kindergarten mind.
We all have some fairy talent and/or superhero powers (depending on your gender, I think). I think we forget how look for them.
As an engineer, I'm tempted by Lori's "tinkering." While loading the car the other day, I told my wife, "Always marry the engineer with the station wagon."
ReplyDeleteBut I think that if I could have a superpower, I would wish to have judgement. That is the power which could help me choose what to pursue, and what to avoid.
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ReplyDeleteSuze has been posting some interesting pictures, accompanied by some brief remarks. Lately, I've noticed that sometimes, the words are even more powerful than the pictures. String some more of those words together, and your new superpower will be the power of words.
ReplyDelete