National treasures

Children are often treated like little bonsai trees.  Twisted and wired into shapes that conform to the world rather than being allowed to grow into the magnificent creations they are. 

Imagine a world where children are not thrown into daycare at the tender age of six weeks, or forced to fit into someone else s schedule.  They sleep when they are tired; eat when they are hungry; are held when they need comfort and fed morsels of knowledge when they are ready to receive them.

A world designed to bring out the best in each child is not necessarily a world that is best for the care giver, or anyone else and so it seldom takes precedence.

But when it does?

Oh the things that emerge!  Two year olds playing music; who already know their letters, shapes and colors; happy, giggling, active human beings oblivious to the stress and strain of their peers.  Little people who are so in touch with their feelings and so comfortable in their world that the only real thing they have to struggle with is their emotional growth.  And that too comes more easily for a child whose every waking moment is not one of conflict.

I suspect that if children were brought into this world and treated like the treasures they are, we might be amazed at the difference in the quality of everyone's life.