Why We Should Let Our Children Inspire Us.

When we approach a situation as a child, we very rarely worry what other people may think. We sing, we dance, and we craft with not a care in the world. The only thing we think about is whether we are happy and enjoying ourselves.

As adults unfortunately, we do care. We start telling ourselves; I look silly dancing, I’m no good at crafts and I can’t sing. Therefore, doing these activities which we once enjoyed, now make us feel uncomfortable and unhappy.

I’m a leader in a well known girls organisation, and although I might confess that my skill definitely lie in crafting, I am an absolute terrible singer! However, this role doesn’t let me get away with not singing. I am the leader, I need to be an inspiration and a good role model. I need to show the girls that you can do anything if you work hard and put your mind to it.

We are currently practising for our Christmas concert and being honest, our first rehearsal was awful. The girls were singing at different speeds, out of tune and basically all over the place. I was embarrassed to show them the right way to sing the songs and for this I actually felt really disappointed in myself. If the concert was going to be successful, I had to find the courage from somewhere to sing by myself in front of a large group of children and a few other leaders.

Children Freedom to dance sing craft

The point I’m trying to make is that as parents we sometimes don’t do things with our children because we’re worried that we’re not very good at it. But children (especially young children) don’t actually care. For them it’s more about the experience and enjoying themselves, and this is why we need to let our children inspire us. We need to let go of our feelings of doubt, we need to sing out loud, dance, craft and do all the other things we’re too scared to do because we might be judged.

How will we ever learn to do these things if we don’t try? What are we teaching our children if we don’t try? And most of all, doing these activities will encourage your children to try themselves and even if you are dreadful at something, you’ll be making a memory, you’ll be having fun and you’ll learn to laugh at yourself.

So why not give that something you used to love a try… What’s the worst that can happen?