My son has a new toy, an orange tractor which he is very proud of. He has very few toys (by comparison to typical western families) and I bought this on a whim when I saw how much he loved it, and his whole face lit up.
I work part-time as a childminder so every week children come to the house and play with “his” things. The evening before a little boy, (who I will call Josh for the purpose of this article) was due to come, my little boy held on tight to his tractor, quietly saying “Josh isn’t going to play with my tractor.”
Somewhere along the way, the secrets to a happy childhood seem to have become lost. Parents are filled with worry about all the things they could do better, all the things they wish they could afford for their children, or conversely, how nothing they give their child seems to bring a smile to their face. Parents notice that their children seem to have lost their spark, their faces dull and unhappy, a stream of complaints from their lips, never satisfied with what life has to offer.
