Encouraging our children to dream and have a vision to work towards, can help them set goals and get their creative juices flowing, beginning a lifelong quest to build a better future.

Saturday morning, driving home from the beach, my 12-year-old son and me, reminiscing and reliving every wave, every manoeuvre, the joy and delight from our early morning surf. Life couldn’t be any better, until… “Dad, look at that, ooohhhh sick!!!”

A Kombi van — dark blue, white roof, excellent condition, the surfmobile-to-die-for slowly cruises by — my son starts dreaming, picturing himself at the wheel. All of sudden our conversation goes from Endless Summer II to Summernats somewhere in the future.

Dreaming On

The dream has commenced; the vision becomes reality. A 12-year-old starts to tell me just what this Kombi van can, and will, look like. The mag wheels fatter and shinier, the paint job complete with flames down each side, the curtains, the surfboards, and of course — the obligatory fan mounted on the dashboard — what a sight! Hang on; haven’t you got five years till you get your licence? Surely this dream will fade… or will it?

What a wonderful sight to see children grabbing hold of a dream. Regardless of how big, or how inconceivable they may appear to us, to kids — it is REAL. You know, as parents we may not share the same passion, or believe that this dream can ever be realised, but no dream is too big for children. Whether it be about a revved-up Kombi van, having the best job in the world, walking on the moon, it doesn’t matter — our children can see it happening.

A vision is truly a splendid thing: it starts the ball rolling, it kickstarts the creative instincts — it is where dreams are converted into a workable and tangible form.

Essential for Survival

I read an analogy about ‘vision’ just recently. It stated, ‘Vision is essential for survival, Vision is greater than sight, Vision is deeper than a dream, Vision is broader than an idea’. Isn’t that awesome! I believe we all have dreams, a vision, perhaps not as large as our kids, but it is there.

If I had a tip for young fathers today, it would be this: Let the children dream. However wild it may seem, encourage the vision.

Our kids are the future. They will make this country. The most successful business people in the world today all had a dream — may have been a little crazy upon inception, but hey, dreams are the foundation — it’s the transformation of dreams into reality that matters.

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Photo by Kindel Media.