I don’t know about you, but my niece certainly is the ‘Max’ the King of All Wild Things. If you are aware of the children’s renowned story “where the wild things are,” then you probably have guessed by now where I am going with this. Despite being a children’s book, Maurice Sendak gives an influential lesson to adults through illustrative images that evoke a lot of things about family ties and, especially, about children and their wild imagination.
“There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen.”
Children are always looking for new, something different, something that will engage them, and outdoor playground equipment is not always what the kids are looking for. In the story “Where the Wild things are,” the young boy named Max feels uncomfortable in his own house where he is not allowed any kind of monkey business. Why do you think that Max ran off to the wild world?
Children are naturally not designed to act stable or in control, and while trying to prevent their mischieves, we are only holding them back. Of course, we cannot allow them to do anything they want, but we can always give them a certain amount of freedom so they can let loose and have things their way.
“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.”
The above quote is a great example of patience. Despite of the creature’s terrible roars, terrible teeth, terrible eyes, and terrible claws, Max loved them and became their king. In fact, they bonded so well that the wild things didn’t want him to leave. This is exactly what our children need. They want to bond with us, play with us, and share things with us.
“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”
Are you giving your max what he needs the most? Is he having enough attention at home? Or is your busy schedule keeping you from spending time with your child? If the answer to all the above things is yes, then you have got to figure out how you are going to balance your time, so that your child gets to have some of it.
Simply letting kids out on the commercial playground equipment, or allowing them to do whatever they want is not a good parenting strategy. You need to be there for your child no matter what. You need to make them feel like they belong somewhere. You need to make them feel safe, and the only way to do is through giving them enough time. The time that they deserve. If you give them the time and affection that they seek, maybe they will give up their wild ways.
“Then from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being king of the wild things.”