Good, unrestrained, imaginative curiosity is probably the trait I cherish most in my small people.
I love bugs in the bug catcher and escapee snails on the stairs.
I love the little finger in the cocoa powder and the little hands which will only be satisfied playing the entire eighty-eight piano keys one after the other. donk. donk. donk. down the scales.
I love 'indoor' curiosity. The kind that finds small people peering at the world map on the wall. Looking through books. Checking out bugs under magnification.
And shells. And fingernails.
And I love 'outdoor' curiosity.
The kind that leads children to dig into the ground and climb trees.
I won't care if my children aren't amazing academically, or sparklingly social, or astoundingly commercially successful. These things aren't important to me.
But I will feel like a failure as a mother if they have no sense of curiosity.
And, er, if they can't cook a whisker.
And perhaps if they eat a lot of hamburgers.
You? What matters to you?
xxx
That is so true! My two little ones had a lovely dig outside with some tennis rackets:) I think if a person is naturally curious, they'll be set for life anyway.
Posted by: Hear Mum Roar | Monday, 11 October 2010 at 10:54 PM
Yes, curiosity, and with it the confidence to know that they can figure it out (learn about it/master the skill/whatever) if they want to.
And to shut up and go to sleep when Mummy says it's nap time. But that's more of an immediate desire.
Posted by: Sue | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 12:10 AM
Letting kids be kids is a very important lesson for any parent. Away from the television! Enjoying the great outdoors and discovering all that our great planet has to offer us for today and for always.
Posted by: Medifast Coupon Code | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 02:16 AM
For me, it is the ability to be glad. Yes, I mean that in the Pollyanna sense. It's the ability to see the good or hope or happiness in any situation. It's the key to contentment.
Also, I wish for them to be kind; to me, to each other, to their neighbour, to the planet.
Yep, gladness and kindness rate higher than any other trait for me.
Posted by: International Pollyanna of Mystery | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 03:06 AM
Cooking and questioning. These are the two things my mother gave me, and I am more grateful for that than the academic brainiac side of me for sure :)
I agree about kindness as well, kindness to all other living beings, no matter what.
Posted by: Rachel @ Suburban Yogini | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 03:46 AM
This is awesome! It is so nice to see kids playing outside and getting dirty. What a great mom!
Posted by: Amy | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 08:30 AM
great post fi.
what matters to me in my kids is happines and a good healthy sense of humour!
Bennoss
Posted by: bennoss | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 09:15 AM
Hear hear. Or is that here here. Gladness & kindness make curiosity seem a little self-centred. Love you, Pollyanna xx
Posted by: innerpickle | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 09:37 AM
Oh yes. Without a sense of humour small Walmsley people get traded in. xx
Posted by: innerpickle | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 09:41 AM
mine is imagination, i'll forgive anything where imagination is involved - we have whole conversations in gibberish or pussy cat which i adore
Posted by: Lucie | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 at 09:52 AM
Wisdom and compassion.
And by wisdom I don't mean the academic knowledge kind of thing... I'm hoping for the Biblical type.
Posted by: SB | Wednesday, 13 October 2010 at 02:27 PM
Couldn't agree more.
:-)
Posted by: Tricia | Wednesday, 13 October 2010 at 11:25 PM
Look at those beautiful trees. I love what you have written here. I feel the same about my kids. It does't matter to me if they don't know all their sight words by the end of kinder of if they are not acadamic geniouses. For me I value my kids being kids for as long as possible, using their imagination and also kindness.
Posted by: Heather | Sunday, 17 October 2010 at 09:16 PM