Diversions

I am waiting for the autobiography in which the author says, “I spent my youth traveling with my parents to made up worlds of fantasy, or summering at various diversions so that I would not be bored with the everyday.  Then when I grew up I became a brilliant scientist, engineer, inventor of things, and so on.”  My point?  No child spends their youth escaping the everyday, and then fully develops their potential.  I have not read or heard it yet.  They may get a job, which might be a diversion from poverty or dependence, but it will not be pushing their boundaries.  With Covid I see children developing the ability to create in play, to deal with being alone and the gift that can bring.  So maybe we don’t have to be so frightened that they will kill themselves or become drug addicts if we don’t keep them busy, fantasy lands and camps and controlled group activities.  I would hope to read someday, the story of a child, who was asked what they did during the Covid times, and they answer, “I self-educated.”  I have heard that when the student is ready, the mentor appears.  I have found it so.