The Kids Are Gonna Be Alright

Have a seat at the table. Things have been tough.

I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’m worried about our future. The future of our country. The future of our planet. It’s all a lot to hold from day to day. We’re really in the weeds and the thing I keep coming back to is my son. What will the future look like for him?

My goals as a parent are to foster kindness, curiosity, self-advocacy, self-awareness, accountability, and creativity. I think a dash of goofy is of the utmost importance too. 

Often, I’ll create an activity for my kid that I think will blow his little 4 year old mind and instead he surprises me. I recently took a position as a nature school art teacher and I wanted to test out a lesson with my son. 

The gist of the lesson is about using different materials and mediums and deciding if something is art or not. Spoiler: it’s all art. Art is an expression, not just a physical thing. When I asked my son if the piece of trash I was holding up was art, he plainly said “well, it could be. Anything can be art mommy”. Then walked away distracted by the call of his construction vehicles waiting in the mud for him. 

Did I teach him that? Or does he just know? Do kids know that the world is beautiful and complex and that there are a million different ways to view one thing? Is the real lesson here that we need to teach less and listen more? 

The kids are going to be alright if we let them be. If we let their beautiful minds wonder and explore and solve their problems in their kid ways. 

I don’t know what the future holds but I know I will spend every day of my life fighting for a better world and for my son to have the space to continue seeing the art in the every day. 

I hope you find a way to see the art today. 

xx Steph