Endless Imagination... Endless Possibilities

I walked to the park with my four year old son a few days ago. We did not merely use the sidewalk, we zig-zagged around chasms, yelled "whee!" as we tumbled down waterfalls, got swept downstream in a fast flowing river, climbed mountains, avoided falling into another waterfall, and skied around islands.

I realized two things. He sure is bossy and boy was I ever tired when we got home!

His imagination is boundless! I wish I could remember when I was like that. At age four, he has a great capacity for pretend and it's so much fun to play with him. The simplest things bring him absolute joy. A cardboard box, a stick at the park, a white piece of paper... Who needs expensive toys and gadgets when you have an imagination?

Kids today have technological marvels at their fingertips. When I was a kid, there was no Internet, no Netflix, no computer tablets, no cell phones (or at least nothing resembling a 2014 cell phone). We were lucky we had cable TV! The internet materialized when I was in high school and I got my first cell phone when I was twenty. I'm actually not that old. The way technology has taken off makes me feel absolutely ancient.

I remember a time before computers and now pretty much everything is computerized. Our dependence on technology has opened up a whole slew of apocalyptic themes in books and movies. Plus it's highlighted the sad reality that a lot of kids have forgotten, or never learn, how to play. Really play. With honest to goodness toys.

I'm proud my boys have great imaginations and even though we have the gadgets and they love to use them, they'll pick a cardboard box every time...