Dream Big
I was speaking with 3 teenage boys the other week at youth club and we got to speaking about Christmas.
In our home, much of Christmas is centred around presents, food and games. It is a day of excitement, noise, mess and everyone joins in.
So, when these youth club boys told me that it can be quite a boring day, that the presents are OK, if, they get any, but usually it’s just money, I felt really disappointed for them.
When pressed though, they admitted that they ask for money, they would actually rather have the freedom to go and buy what they wanted, so naturally, I followed up with……
‘Would you prefer stuff to open?’
‘Yes,’ was the unanimous response
‘Well, what would you ask Santa for?’
‘Just clothes, probably!’
Remember that these teens were once small boys, kids who dreamt of all the things small children dream of. When did that change to ‘just clothes, probably?’ When did that happen? Why did that happen?
Does your teenager know that it is okay to still dream big?
Christmas should be magical, but when you become an adult and too aware of reality, the magic can be dulled. But teenagers spend their waking hours being told what they should know, what they don’t know, what they could know, what they must know. They are bombarded with the dangers of all their choices. They have the pressure of exams and their futures looming large ahead of them - they should still get excited about having a break from all of that pressure and routine, shouldn’t they?
They are in that transitional phase between childhood and adulthood.
They are so aware of what is acceptable and what is not.
Perhaps having a magical Christmas is just NOT acceptable anymore.
Perhaps it is not allowed by the cool kids.
But surely their dreams always should be.
What do you dream of?
What is your best day ever? What is your favourite meal? What would you do if you won the lottery?
What do you dream of?
Why don’t you share those dreams with the people you live with and find out what’s in their dreams. Let the people who are closest to you, know your hopes, your dreams, both the realistic and the absurd because that is what dreams are made of.
More importantly, let your little ones know that it is always acceptable to dream, even for those cool kids. Dream for the big money, for the material stuff, for the houses, clothes, cars and shoes. And dream for the simple stuff too; for love, for someone who gets you, for acceptance, for laughing til you think you are going to wet yourself, for a hug.
Dream big and dream small.
Dream extravagant and dream simple.
Don’t bottle up your dreams with a cork in the top and save them for a rainy day; place them in a treasure chest and take them out often to examine and cherish them.
Know what you dream of doing with your life.
Know your dream house and the dream location for it.
Know you dream holiday.
Your dreams are vital and they should be enjoyed. Your young adults need to know that they are still allowed to dream, they can dream of being a fairy princess or famous footballer if they want to! Their dreams are also vital and should be big and loud and mad and colourful and weird. They are young and creative and have their whole lives to achieve whatever they want. Let them know that that’s ok!
And what about those three teens who are not really looking forward to Christmas Day? I gave them all evening to name me one gift that they would really like to receive this year, money no object, something that can be wrapped up and handed to them. Not one of them could do it. I may have been a fairy Godmother with a magic wand who wanted to make their dreams come true, but I can’t do that with people who don’t know what they want!
Name your dreams, not just for Christmas but for life, name them and treasure them and then you will be ready when someone asks you what you dream of.