I am always
amazed at news reports of children who have pioneered a fund collection or
humanitarian project, often with remarkable results. It is humiliating to see
children doing what I would probably fail at.
Idealism is a feature of youth;
realism a growing understanding gained later in life. Idealism sees “what
should be done,” while realism perceives “what can be done.” But realism often
degenerates into “what can’t be done.”
The 1851
Festival of Britain in London held a competition for the design of the main
building. Many architects presented designs, but the winning project was a huge
steel and glass building (later known as the Crystal Palace) designed by a
gardener familiar with greenhouses.
He
wasn’t inhibited by the standard building techniques of his day, and his design
was the forerunner of many later steel and glass buildings.
Children and
youths see all things through young, fresh new eyes, including methods and
ideas not anticipated or available to their elders. Systems and processes adopted
by an older and traditional generation don’t restrict them; they are more able
to “think outside the box.”
When
children succeed at some project, their idealism has been channelled into
workable solutions. Rather than recount why a child’s idea cannot be done,
enable them to think through their own ideas on how problems can be overcome.
We may be
amazed at what their idealism can accomplish.
