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We live in a place known for hustle. For hurry-go and "Yeah, I've already done that."  We know it.  We live it. With our umpteen bajillion extra-curricular activities and our one-too-many sign-up scribbles.  With good intentions? I am quite sure.  With numbing realities?  I'm quite certain of that too.  Our kids watch.  And they begin to liken their steps to what satisfies time and fills space.  They see NOW and hurry-go as a just another box to check.

Elevated are these times in which we live.  Competition to succeed and to meet standards grows a bit closer to maddening.  Teachers are held to watered-down evaluation requirements with more work on their plate than 5 humans can do.  The role of educator has evolved into that of social worker-turned-circus show clown-part miracle healer and the chips are falling. Falling, not for lack of effort, but for lack of keeping heart at what grows people good from the ground up.

Ground up?  Yes, a baseline notion of good heart keeping.  This mindset begins early and it begins with the idea of less.  Less stuff and more still.  It is harvested with the openness to create and make what no one else can.  Home. Backyards. Pastures. Creeks. Parks.

Growing good hearts cannot begin to know boldness and act unless they are given time to know what rests there on the insides.  Overloads of massive mind numbing television and pre-calculated creative boundaries in the likes of shrink wrapped toys do not tend the heart.  They fill our breathing reservoirs with empty air. And, so many kiddos are headed out into the hustle we called life with shallow lungs and space-filled hearts on their insides.

Children need not one more video game.  They need not one more sporting event or kindergarten graduation ceremony.  They need time.  With humans that love them.  They need books and big rocks to climb. Puddles to splash and sprawled out spaces to waller. Empty boxes turned army barracks and 1st & ten goal line stands with stick figures too.

Good heart keeping begins with the imagination.  With the possibility of what human life can be.  With the igniting of dreams like little tiny flickers slowly warming the inside of us. These embers crackle and create energy for us all to settle more into the who we are. Character teaching becomes second nature when we are already warm inside.

My passion is to let children rest.  To let them feel love and know play. To pretend and pursue the heart of them.  For it is good.  And it is worthy of less push and notsomuch hurry-go.  The NOW of our world needs more big rocks to climb and sprawled out spaces to waller.

To open all 31 gifts in this month long celebration, visit here.