Out of the Mouth of Babes

...and no, I'm not talking about Hugh this time! But we'll include a picture anyway, because any day is a good day for a photo of Hugh. ;)

I was walking into the library the other day, and was stunned to hear a little curly-headed cutie, about 2 or so, point to a car and say, "Hey, Mommy, that's a Beamer!"

And yes, he was right.

I immediately started cracking up, and the mother and I shared a good chuckle. "He knows all the cars," she admitted. "Good for him!" I replied.

Will any of us be surprised if that little boy starts drawing sketches of Lamborghinis in his notebooks in elementary school, takes auto mechanics in high school (if they still have that!), and grows up to be an engineer for Ford or Ferrari? Nope. We will have seen the glimmer of his future in his passion at a tender age.

A lot of times, it's difficult for us "grown-ups" to remember what we love. We get so caught up in expectations and societal roles that we lose sight of who WE are. Do we really like a lot of frills and ribbon on our pages, or do we scrapbook that way because that's the latest style? Do we want to go for black and white portraits, or would we really prefer to include a handful of colorful, informal snapshots? What is our "style?" What do we love? Who would we be if no one was looking?

I think we can find a lot of answers by tracing back to our early roots, just like with this little automotive aficionado. What did we love as a child? What made us happy? Who were we before we knew better?

Your assignment: Spend some time thinking, writing, or scrapbooking what you loved as a child. I wanted to be a teacher, a librarian, a writer, a mailman (yes, a mailMAN). I can find pieces of who I am today in each of those dreams. I loved reading, changing my Barbie dolls' clothing (not playing with them; merely changing their outfits!), and writing letters to penpals. Do we see any common threads here???

Links:

What do you want to be when you grow up? 14 questions to help you figure it out.

Comments

[Samantha]

Love this post! I wanted to be a web-designer when I was younger. Now, I'm a Civil Engineer. I have no idea what any of those have to do with scrapbooking, which is my true 'calling' (hee hee) but I'll be interested when I find out. :-)

Also, welcome (back) to Massachusetts!!! I hope everything from the move is coming together seamlessly!

[Ann Grounds]

Oh this is so funny, well not litterally but figuratively. (Don't grade my spelling.) When I took my daughter and 2 of her friends to see the Lippizanner Stallions, the 3 of them were talking about what they wanted to be: the first little girl who is always "fashionible" wants to be a fashion designer, my daughter -a vet-she is tottally into animals, and the third little girl who is in the highly capable class wants to be: a zoologist, an oceanographer, a scientist, a marine biologist, an environmentalist, and the list went on. I already have a LO planned on our conversation.!

[Beth Vondran]

Recently we were talking with our son about his plans for college and what he wanted to study. We are not sure where it came from, but he is interested in pharmacy. I know he has enjoyed chemistry (not me - I couldn't wait until the year was over). So, I told him to go for it!
Then, it made me think back to when I decided to become a teacher. It goes all the way back to when I was in the 2nd grade. (I think I still have my 2nd grade spelling book somewhere in the stash!) I love kids and I loved the endless creative outlets one could take. Unfortunately, with all the standards and test requirements, the creativity is being taken out of our control.
I am so thankful, that I can be creative in other ways - scrapbooking - and I do enjoy it all.
Despite the state standards and all, I still try very hard to implement creative activities into my daily lesson plans while teaching so the little ones can enjoy school and learn to explore new avenues.
After all, the sky is the limit!!!

[Noelle]

Stickers! Construction paper! Scissors!

That's what I loved as a kid...

And then I learned to program a computer...

Now I'm back to Stickers! Paper! Scallopy scissors!

[Rae]

I wanted to be a airline hostess, but was told I was too SHORT! It really upset me, so I went to a Navy Recruiter and joined the Navy. I ended up staying over 20 years...in the Navy. Sometimes good comes out of what you think is so bad. I don't know if I would have retired at 39 as an airline hostess. Besides I still got to see lot's of the world, just took it the slow way...via the seas : )

[Gaynol]

Sigh.....Hugh.....

[elizabeth]

I was a Barbie clothes-changer, too. Not really a player, per se, but definitely a clothes-changer. It remains my favorite part about dolls as a grownup, too : )