She could’ve gotten mad. She could’ve yelled at her daughter for doing something obviously against the rules. She could’ve immediately scooped up the mess and thrown it all outside.
Instead, when Jane Goodall’s mother found a handful of earthworms—along with the dirt—in young Jane’s bed, she laughed and, as Goodall recalled, said, “Jane, you were looking so intently, I think you must have been wondering how they walk without legs.”
Imagine if Goodall’s mother reacted differently. It could have become a very different memory. Or it might have been a minor but forgotten experience that snuffed out her daughter’s natural curiosity about nature. She might have discouraged her developing scientific mind. She even might have robbed the world of one of its greatest natural scientists.
As parents, don’t we wish we could be a little bit more like Jane’s mother? Isn’t this what we want to do? Isn’t this how we should react when our kids are interested in something? Isn’t this what we would’ve wanted our own parents to do when we were genuinely curious about something, no matter how strange or gross or messy it was?
So embrace their interests, even if you think those interests are gross. Messes can almost always be cleaned up later. For now, encourage them to develop their inquisitiveness about the weirdly wonderful—perhaps to the benefit of the world.
Similarly, in the August 10th entry of The Daily Dad book (you can get a signed or personalized copy here), we talk about how Jeannie Gaffigan, comedian Jim Gaffigan’s wife, always had rules for when, where, and how her kids could make slime (it’s a pain in the ass to clean up). After facing a life-threatening diagnosis, she came to a realization: “I’d never asked ‘Can you teach me how to make the slime?’ I never engaged with the slime. I engaged with the control of the slime.” Life is too short to nix your children’s interests because you don’t want to deal with a mess afterwards.
Right now, The Daily Dad ebook is available for just $2.99! In it, you’ll find one piece of timeless parenting wisdom—with stories like these—for each day of the year. January is the perfect time to start, so we hope you take advantage of the sale while it lasts.
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