Remember when your birthday or Christmas used to take forever to arrive? Why was that? Simple: you had never experienced a year, and so those early years, when you didn’t know what time was, a year felt like an eternity. Over time, you grasped what the days and minutes added up to, and now Christmas starts sometime in July. So how can we get back to experiencing time like our children?
1. LUXURIATE
When kids get into something that really has their attention, they have no agenda but that one thing. Therefore, time, does not exist. Let yourself get lost in something and watch time disappear.
2. ANTICIPATE
A teacher of mine used to say “Anticipation is half the fun.” Waiting, of course, is not fun; yet, what’s the rush? In a world of instant, we can savor the “almost” with equal gratification. Fantasy fuels our brain just as much as the real thing.
3. ESTIMATE
Everything to a kid is wonder and mystery. It’s only until we figure everything out that the world gets boring and predictable. Take your best guess next time. Go the clichéd long way home. Wonder while you wander.
4. PROCRASTINATE
Nobody can stall better than kids. Whether it’s resisting dinner, bath time, bedtime, or stretching out playtime just a bit longer, getting to the next thing can wait. It can always wait. (Of course, this tip flies in the face of all my time-saving mantras, but hey, it’s an election year. We’re allowed to waffle, right?)
5. CREATE
Children are born creative. They see possibility in everything, and can invent new from old, or from nothing at all. Remember your imagination? It was switched on around two-years old. Find yours again, and let it run wild.