So I sit and wait, tempted to hold my breath, just to see, if I can. To test my limits, like I used to when I was a child, putting my head under water in the bath. Convinced that perhaps I really was a mermaid after all. I mean if they had to be one, why not me. Just like that time, I had convinced myself, that I was in fact a fairy, a fairy disguised as a human, that is. I really believed it too, for a while, believed it because I so wanted it to be true . Growing up in the countryside in Ireland, I was no stranger to fairies. We all knew about the fairy rings and knew to be respectable and not go into them. Unless you were invited.
My being a fairy, only happened whilst I was sleeping. Because even though I believed I was one, I still knew not to step inside of one, no matter how curious I was. They were sacred places, places to be in awe of and wary of in equal measure. Oh to be a kid again and feel free enough to run away with my imagination, without anyone questioning me. The innocence of it all. When you could just be a kid, explore and not be labelled. Not have people around you, who are assessing your every move.
Today I feel like, kids are being put under microscopes, whilst they are continually restrained. Whilst they have less and less freedoms, as they are expected to fit certain expectations. To be quieter, slower, more civilised. To just stop being a child, to stop doing what comes naturally. People don't even want to hear babies cry anymore. I see it, how low the tolerance has become, to babies crying, which is there primary form of communication. Which says a lot really, about how we are expected to silence our kids from birth.
I have watched, how over the last few years, our children's minds are being more and more governed. Where the ideas of some, are being projected onto them from so many different angles. When certain ideologies are being pushed onto them. When they are being pushed and herded into certain ways of thinking. Our kids need to just be left to explore and experiment, without any influence from others. Let them find their own way, without any labels being put on them or introduced to them. Just let them be.
Because they will figure it our for themselves, I mean, that's a huge part of their initiation into adulthood. Having the skills to think for themselves and figure their shit out.
