You Don’t Have to Be So Serious

It’s exhausting to be a kid. Because they’re clever and creative and you’re not. Because they’re pure and idealistic and you’ve been hardened by the world you’ve seen. Because they’re still uniquely themselves, yet to be beaten down or corrupted. 

“Grown ups never understand anything by themselves,” the always childlike Saint-Exupéry would write, “and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again.”

What he’s talking about—what we’re talking about—is whimsy. We’re talking about not being so damn literal or cynical or responsible all the time. We’re talking about going with the flow, really getting into the moment. 

Ok, so we’re both plane monster trucks who are drinking water? Oh, you and your friend are going to dig a hole to China? Oh, you and your political club at school think a wealth tax and the Green New Deal will work?

Just go with it. Let them explore. Better, explore it with them. Don’t intrude. Don’t make them explain, don’t tell them why they’re wrong. It’s not serious. In fact, making everything so serious is exhausting—for you and for them. So let go. Try to understand.

P.S. This was originally sent on September 30, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Dad’s email and get our popular 11 page eBook, “20 Things Great Dads Do Everyday.”

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