Greetings from Disneyworld! That’s right. This week, I’ve been on vacation with my family in Florida. With 8-year-old and 3-year-old daughters, my wife and I thought it was the perfect time to let our kids experience the wonder of the Magic Kingdom. But our kids decided to teach us a thing or two about magic instead.
As a Type A personality, I envisioned early morning departures to the park with Fast Passes in hand and a well-planned strategy in mind to maximize each minute and decrease our cost per ride. Our kids didn’t see it that way. Sure, they like Mickey and the Princesses and the amazingly engineered rides, but here’s that they love best–playing in the pool at our guesthouse.
They’ve had more fun relaxing with the family poolside than they’ve had queuing in line for the It’s a Small World ride. We’ve all seen children ignore their fancy toys in favor of a pot, a lid, and a wooden spoon. And discovering my kids’ idea of a great vacation reminded me that in their innocence, they are actually very wise. Sleeping in, taking naps, perfecting cannonballs, and splashing Mom and Dad are what family vacations should be about. We didn’t need laser beams and roller coasters and street parades to enjoy ourselves and each other; we could have had a perfectly magical vacation just “being” instead of “doing”.
In that spirit, I dug up a few quotes for you to enjoy:
Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them. ~Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943.
Children ask better questions than adults. “May I have a cookie?” “Why is the sky blue?” and “What does a cow say?” are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than “Where’s your manuscript?” Why haven’t you called?” and “Who’s your lawyer?” ~Fran Lebowitz
It is a happy talent to know how to play.~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do. ~Jean de la Bruyere
Here’s to your own “magical” Easter weekend!
~Bob
