"The time has come," the walrus said.
"To talk of many things.
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax,
Of cabbages and kings.
Of why the sea is boiling hot.
And whether pigs have wings."

Lewis Carroll penned these words in 'Alice Through the Looking Glass'. Without any question, my absolute favourite quote. My children have grown up hearing these extremely profound words oft repeated in their infant ears. And then in their adolescent ears. And now, I am quite certain they could repeat them back to me without any prompting.

Their value? you ask. How could I waste my children's impressionable youth hearing such nonsense? you ask. Perhaps you are right. But, think just for a moment, of the joy of imagination allowed to run wild. Think of the love of exploring books, of conquering the Everest of Questing Knowledge, the 2000 Leagues under the Sea of Thirsting Enquiry.

Cabbages? Are you kidding? No. Where do caterpillars often live? Then the wonder of developing life from there. Adults may be jaded by the old stories of Peter Rabbit and the vegetables. But those same stories are brand new to young ears, who can't get enough of those old cabbage stories.

I recently read a blog in which someone was expressing views of the jaded sort, and thought how sad that was. Why can't children be allowed to be children? This individual was wanting a very much more sophisticated approach to just 'entertaining' children. Watch any young children on their birthdays. The things they enjoy playing with the most, are the simplest - very often the wrappings, the boxes, the balloons - the extremely costly gifts get left unattended until some time later. When the child has grown older, and we have taught him or her to be more sophisticated in their expectations, then the simple things no longer please. Then, the costlier the better. And then - we watch sadly, and wonder: where has our little one gone?

Perhaps a little more time spent talking to our children, with the walrus, of the absurd, the unreachable, the down-to-earth, the monstrous, the tiny, the unimaginable, the fun...Yes, just the fun of books, of learning, of playing with parents and siblings, of playing in the sand and climbing trees. Aah! How many, many problems in life we could solve. Just think of the happier families, more balanced children, fewer learning problems.

And so I say again:

"The time has come," the walrus said...