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Yes, I know it is only the end of August. But. My son came home today so excited to decorate the house with his new Halloween decorations he had purchased from the dollar store, that we both kind of caught that Halloween fever, and had to go for it.

At first, my “adult mind” thought: it’s way too early to be decorating for Halloween! But you know what, after I saw his smiling face, energy, and pure, Unadulterated joy surrounding all things candy, glowing lights, spooky, and autumn-y fun, I couldn’t help but be sucked up into his contagious enthusiasm.

And I thought: Why not? This is gonna be fun! We can start now, and by Halloween, this whole place will be decked out something else! Our new house is big, old, and weird, and it’s perfect for making a haunted house! I thought we might have a party and invite a bunch of people over and make something spooky for the kids.

Party or not, however, what stood out to me most about this little episode was how important this childlike enthusiasm is. How full of joy. How pure for it’s excitement and fun, and how really alive, awake, and present that happiness is. The happiness of living life NOW.

It’s easy to get caught up in the routine thought patterns of being an “normal” and “responsible,” “adult.” And to think according to formulas, rigid schedules, and worn out social norms.

I always talk about how unschooling is so much comprised of our children teaching us. Actually, that may be almost all of it. They learn fine on their own. Sometimes, however, this old dude “in charge” needs a goddamn wake up call! :) Thank you, Isaiah. Let’s have a great Halloween!

~*~

~KafkA

(If you missed the last installment of the Unschooling Blog, Vol. 50: “Lego Amusement Parks And A Simple Rube Goldberg Machine,” you can find that here.)

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)