When I was eight years old, my dream was to become a teacher, to get a degree and to write books for children.
However, with my home circumstances the way they were, I think the closest I was going to get to that dream was by practicing and pretending- these dreams weren’t possible for kids like me.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to teach- I just know there was something inside me that wanted to help others to learn. I told my whole family that was what I wanted to do, but my grandparents were the ones who took me seriously. Heck, I didn’t believe it was possible!
I suspect it was the number of times I tried to sit my sisters down and 'teach' them or if they didn’t want to listen, I would line up my teddies (the best students to be fair), and teach them instead. My favourite memory was going through my notebooks and calling register.
I spent hours writing stories too, I think I filled a few notebooks I bought cheaply from a shop to write in. I would get my sisters to illustrate them and come up with characters for them- I would then take them to school and ask the teachers to 'review' them. I was quite the bookworm you imagine I was!
Little did I know, and up until two years ago- I had no recognition; I had actually achieved each of my dreams! Some were obvious, others took me by surprise.
At university when I speak, when my practitioners need support; I am there, my children (at work and at home), need me to help and enable them. Even so far as when parents ask advice! I am teaching far beyond a point I had ever realised possible.
The degree I had dreamed of became a Masters (I never got the degree), and yes, upon completion of that- I wrote a book! Two in one year in fact!
Being playful in my childhood; playing and engaging with my sisters while keeping them safe, enabled me to build my resilience and sense of self, to get back up when I got knocked down and to smile despite wanting to cry. When it felt like my world was falling down, I stood up and strangely, I made light of it; this was a coping mechanism that ensured my mental strength made it through without breaking under the immense pressure that was towering over me.
Not every child has a parent that has the same struggles as my parents did- however, if there’s one thing I learned from my childhood, it is this; playfulness should be in every childhood.
I spent years studying and working with children to understand play and its magic and this is a gift I was given as a reward for getting through it.
No matter where you come from or circumstances that get in the way, when you think life was created against you- its rarely true.
