I once walked past a card shop which had, in its window, a poster that stopped me in my tracks. It said: “Before we are two years old, we are told over and over: ‘Walk, jump, run! Speak!’ By the time we are three, we keep hearing: ‘Stay still! Shut up!’
So what about self-expression? When I first mastered the art of making sentences, albeit recognisable ones, meaningful ones, as a toddler it was like being given the key to an entire new world. I first received the key to the physical world by being able to move, walk and run and now I had the key to another kingdom: the world of words and of expressing myself, what I see, how I feel, and later on, what I think and what I imagine.
Who wouldn’t want to embrace that with sheer enthusiasm? But once again it was short-lived and most of the time the messages I received, when I expressed myself, were along the lines of ‘silly nonsense’, ‘you’re too loud’, ‘can’t you see I am busy?’ , ‘I can’t talk to you right now’, ‘later’, ‘stop chatting it’s so annoying’, ‘you are such a chatterbox’…
A complete contradiction just like it said in the poster. I sincerely hope things have changed with younger generations but I am not so sure it is the case for every child.
How was your experience when you started expressing yourself as a child? Can we connect once more with the sheer enthusiasm of sharing what we have to say?
As for me, yet again, I was filled with resignation: speaking and expressing oneself were going nowhere; they were not heard nor responded to in an encouraging way. It seemed the adults had changed their mind and would not or could not pay enough attention to what was being said.
To be continued…
