Yesterday
something awesome happened. The space shuttle Endeavor was being transported
from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to its new home in Los Angeles, and it
stopped here in Houston for refueling. And it flew right over my house! It was
incredible. I felt a little giddy and giggly about it for hours afterwards. I
love NASA, and always have. The idea of exploring the galaxy and learning about
the universe around us fascinates me, and the creativity and resourcefulness of
the scientists and astronauts of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration has always been inspiring. It makes me feel like a kid again.
Not
that feeling like a kid has ever been particularly difficult for me. Given
almost any excuse I am ready for an adventure and to throw off responsibility
and take the world by storm. One of the comments I get most often about my
preschool is from parents who tell me, “[Child] is always so excited to come to
your preschool. He wasn’t like this with [former preschool].” That’s gratifying
to hear and I love it, and I think the reason is twofold. One, I have a theater
degree and no shame so I will be as entertaining as possible, arms flailing and
feet kicking while I sing goofy songs to teach them about everything. Two, I
like to have fun and pretend to be a kid with them whenever I can.
Here’s
a secret. I take my preschool advanced class on a field trip once a month. We
go a different place each time, and everything we learn about for the weeks
leading up to the field trip is related to the subject. For example, before we
went to the Mercer Arboretum we talked about photosynthesis in science, counted
leaves and petals in math, practiced writing the words “flower,” “dirt,” and “sunlight”
in our handwriting, and read stories about plants and growing, so even though
we were covering all our topics, they were all related. So when we went to the
gardens and walked around, we had a great time.
But
that isn’t the secret. My mother thinks I’m crazy for doing a field trip once a
month. Even the parents are pretty surprised. I love my parent volunteers who
come along with me and help out, they are invaluable. People ask me why I do
something that’s such an extra and requires so much more work. The secret is I
do the field trips because they are my favorite part of preschool.
I
love taking the kids out into the world and being able to show it to them. It’s
good for them and good for me, because it gives me that chance to see it again
through their eyes. We run and play, make jokes and sing songs. The world to
them is new, huge, and incredible. It refreshes me to be out in it with them.
We go to farms and museums, parks and playgrounds, and once a year we drive
down to the Johnson Space Center and tour NASA. That’s my favorite trip of the
year. It’s a long drive for the kids, it’s almost an hour and a half, but it’s
so worth it. If you live in the area and haven’t gone, you must go. If you don’t
live near either the Johnson or the Kennedy Space Centers, go on vacation and
see it. NASA is a piece of America unlike any other, because it transcends our
entire planet. Give into the magic and the wonder, like your kids do.
Kids
believe. I love them for that. They believe in Santa and the tooth fairy and
the Easter bunny, they believe in magic and science all together and that
anything is possible. If you stand in front of a preschool or kindergarten
class and ask who wants to be a dancer, every hand goes up. Who wants to be an
astronaut? Everyone. A doctor, an artist, a writer, a musician, any child
believes they can do it 100%. Go in front of a high school class and ask those
same questions. Maybe one hand will go up for each. Most of them won’t believe
they’ll ever be anything special.
Why?
What happened in the interim that destroyed our faith in ourselves and in the
possibilities of the universe? It happened to me, wanting to be a writer so
badly but waiting decades to even try. What beats us down so harshly? Was it
grades? Other kids? Adults trying to be helpful by giving us a dose of “reality”?
I
think in many ways being with these preschool kids has helped me believe in
myself again. They believe in me. Yesterday I overheard a conversation between
a little girl and three little boys. The little boys were pretending to be
tigers and the little girl was the tiger tamer.
One of the boys said, “The
only thing stronger than tigers are lions.”
“There are no lions in
preschool. Miss Angie would put them in time out,” said the girl.
“Not if the lions came
to eat us!” said boy number two.
That sweet girl put her
hands on her hips and stuck out her chin. “If a lion came to eat us, Miss Angie
would eat him! She won’t let anything bad happen in preschool!”
How can you doubt
yourself when someone believes you would eat a lion to protect them? Your kids
have that kind of faith in you. You can make things better. You can fix it.
That kind of belief makes us stronger, and makes us willing to try. And we need
to protect that precious and fragile belief for our children as long as we can.
I believe, as I have always believed, that we can have, do, or be anything we
want as long as we want it badly enough. Want it enough to put in the work. Our
belief and our work really can change the world. Our kids know that.
The picture below is of
the space shuttle Endeavor flying over downtown Houston. My husband’s co-worker
took this picture out their office window. That aircraft has been in space. That
fragile piece of equipment was made with human hands and human ingenuity, and
it burst out of the atmosphere and escaped the gravity of an entire planet to
fly among the stars. If it can because we built it, then why not us? Our kids
know the secret. Let them remind you to believe.
JEALOUS! I wish I could have seen it :D
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