“”I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein
I think one of the best things about having a kid (a boy especially) is that it allows me to revert back to childhood, a time of innocence and where imagination soared.
So three weekends out of every month I get to enjoy a 3 year-old’s world with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars and Superhero battles. A world where stuffed animals and toys come alive and talk in funny voices. And where a “Little Tikes Cozy Coupe” can be transformed into a Maserati and Ninja Turtles “Big Wheel” can be a Harley Davidson.
Why? Because imagination is at work . And like when I was a kid, my son is learning how to alter his world through the power of “pretend,” which I believe is one of the most important skills he can develop.
In today’s world I think that the power of imagination is a lost art even amongst children because we’ve started handing them iPhones and iPads to play with as soon as their little fingers could swipe and push buttons. And it saddens me when I see a kid who can get the highest score on “Angry Birds,” but can’t enter the adventure land of a book, where words on the page ignite the imagaination to go further.
As American Author Philip Jose Farmer said “Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.”
Just imagine what our future will be like if the leaders of tomorrow have lost their ability to be free-thinkers and creative-thinkers with innovative minds to create something new. I imagine we won’t make it very far.
So while they say “you only get to be a kid once.” I cherish my my weekends with a 3 year-old boy whose giggles of laughter and “zoom, zoom” car noises can bring me back to a place where I first discovered one of the greatest tools that the Good Lord gave us. The ability to imagine and create in the mind’s eye. It is that kind of world that I am proud to be passing on to my son.