Being Childlike (No, Not Childish)

I'm not one of those people who has to run and tell you about every single time that my name is mentioned on someone else's blog. However, I particularly enjoyed a post today at Jason Kotecki's Escape Adulthood blog. Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a fan of Jason and the Escape Adulthood crew. Jason and his wife Kim promote "helping grown-ups of all ages to Escape Adulthood, whether it's through a stress-reducing chuckle or a nostalgic reflection at a treasured childhood memory." Their site is a lot of fun, and they also work towards improving the lives of children.

Today Jason writes about the difficulty of being childlike while meeting life's many grown-up responsibilities. Jason says:

"I don’t think it’s an all or nothing choice. I believe it’s possible to be childlike, have fun, and enjoy life while still being a responsible and successful mom, dad, boss, teacher, employee, or even President of the United States."

And then he gives an example of a friend of his who is an Industrial Engineer and co-founder of a software company, but who also blogs about children's books. That would be me! So very fun to run across this post this morning, as I was checking the blog updates.

What pleases me most about Jason's post (and this is feedback that I've received from others offline, most recently from Adrienne) is the notion that it's ok, and perhaps even something to proud of, having this strange dichotomy between the work that I do professionally, and my personal passion for children's books and literacy. Sometimes I worry about linking the two publicly. Will prospective customers of my company think that I'm not taking the work side of things seriously enough, if I'm using my spare time to review children's books? Will visitors to my blog have less confidence in my recommendations because I don't have a background as a librarian or a writer?

Well, yes, both of these things could, and probably do, happen in some cases. But this is who I am. This is where my life has ended up so far. And for all of the people who would look down on one side or the other, I'm sure that there are others who think that it's interesting, or who think that the one side rounds out the other. Jason would say that this two-faceted lifestyle is one "that actually gives you a better chance of reaching your full potential as a person, and one that guarantees that you’ll have fun along the way."

What do you think? Do you try to balance the responsible adult with the childlike spirit within?

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.