This week’s prompt is Nothing.
Christopher Robin talks about doing nothing. It’s something he loves to do. But he says that once he goes to school, he won’t do nothing much anymore. Adults have trouble doing nothing. We always feel as though we must be efficient and productive. Children (at least when they are away from technology for long enough) excel at just be-ing. I need to do nothing more, because actually it is something. It’s called rest.
Even if you are running around the back yard with your kids or meandering through the neighborhood on a spontaneously walk or drive, it can be rest. A time of unstructured activity that has no set purpose or agenda. A time that is not about what you do, but who you do it with. Sometimes I feel like I have to quantify everything. Do we do enough useful things today? Did I produce something, clean something or impact knowledge? Did we do letters and numbers, teach life skills and have the necessary outside time to encourage proper development?
My days are filled with these kind of questions. But kids don’t ask these things. They just live and sometimes they have goals and sometimes they are just seeing what happens, spontaneous scientist without method or documentation.
“When grownups ask you what you’re going to do, and you say nothing and then you go out and do it.” I need more of this in my life. Maybe you do too.
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I definitely need more of this in my life! I live by too many to-do lists! It’s been hard to let go and just be, especially as a stay-at-home mom now. Great post! And you’ve just got to love Christopher Robin and all his friends. They have some great advice about life 🙂
I feel you. I live and die by to-do lists and I know that I’m guilty of not paying nearly enough attention to my kids as result. It’s something I’m working on. I think as stay-at-home moms we feel the need to quantify and justify our days so that we aren’t accused of being lazy in a culture that often doesn’t respect what we do. But sometimes “doing nothing” with our kids is the best thing we can do.
So good! It’s hard isn’t it as an adult to ‘do nothing.’ But I find the older I get, the more I crave it. 😉 Here from FMF. Thanks for sharing!
http://maryhess.com/five-minute-friday-nothing/
When I think of all the time I had as a kid to “do nothing” and all I wanted was to do was planned, special activities and often complain of being bored. Now I would love to have enough time to be bored.
yes, i agree…creativity is born in all that “nothing” that we see our kids doing as they are zooming lego planes and building clubhouses and rolling down grassy hills, and laughing silly at each others jokes…its somewhat uncomfortable for us to do…i find i do it best when i leave my house and go somewhere outside with them.