Susan Merrill

One of my children definitely lives and dreams outside the box. Her individuality became obvious to me her first week of pre-K. She was sent to the wall twice before the end of the first week. My other children had never been sent to the wall, ever, so I was…panicked!

“Honey,” I said, “Merrills don’t get sent to the wall.  What did you do?”

Her response the first time was, “Mommy, Arial Mermaid was playing in my head, and I just had to sing it out.”

Her response the second time was, “Mrs. S. passed out the Play-Doh and I tasted it.”  “Honey,” I said, “I’ve told you that all Play-Doh tastes the same.” “I know, Mommy, but it was a new color and I wanted to make sure.”

To her it made perfect sense and I confess it did to me, too (closet out-of-the-boxer that I am).  However, being the mom I think I need to be, we worked at conforming and she never went to the wall again.

That makes me kind of sad.

It took five years before I let go of conforming and embraced the fact she was born to live outside of the box. And to live outside the box she shouldn’t be sent to the wall; she should be allowed to walk through some walls. Walls that some people don’t understand because their child is focused solely on academics. Walls that some people look down on because it seems too artsy. Walls that some people think are un-cool because it doesn’t involve sports.

She is becoming a fascinating young woman with such diverse potential.  School still gets in her way. It boxes up a lot of her time. But this summer we are going to spend some time dreaming and pursuing dreams. I’m committing to helping her strategically break through walls – pursue ideas – of what she dreams her world could be.

What is your child dreaming of pursuing this summer?  Do you put off their questions and dreams because you are too in the box to consider what they are dreaming? Small dreams when a child is little can lead to big dreams later.

Oh, and my daughter… she’s still singing out whatever plays in her head. She’s the one in red.