By Lisen Tammeus Mann
Favorite childhood memory? Think for a moment…what pops into your mind? What emotions does it evoke or what senses does it engage for you now?
Keep pondering, and I’ll share mine.
Once or twice a year, our family would make a two-day car trip to the tiny town in upstate New York where my grandparents lived. Before the car could roll to a full stop in the driveway, my sister and I would scramble down rickety wood stairs to one corner of their unfinished basement where the smells of acrylics, oils and canvas remain in my olfactory memories. My grandpa’s cinderblock-walled art “studio” was our favorite place on earth. An insurance salesman by day, he spent his spare hours painting – mostly owls, ducks, geese and rural scenes.
In that basement corner, we were given free reign to create anything we wanted and to use his paints with abandon. We could see it made our parents nervous that we’d make a mess, ruin his in-the-works canvas or waste his art materials. But my grandpa was what we’d call today a “non-anxious presence.” He would invite us to find an easel, grab some watercolors and join him in painting whatever we could imagine. If we needed or wanted help, he’d give us some guidance, but I remember how much he seemed to enjoy not teaching us but watching us.
It was pure magic.
Perhaps your favorite childhood memory evokes that too – because someone gave you agency, unstructured time or space to explore or just invited you to invent and create alongside them.
Sometimes we look to Disney-like experiences to capture or re-kindle that joy and freedom of childhood. Along the way, we accepted a way of thinking that childhood magic is “pretend” and everything else is “reality.” But my grandpa’s basement art studio wasn’t “pretend” – it was real and a place to make my own choices and decisions.
If we, as parents curating our own children’s experiences, can reframe how we view childhood magic, it might help us hold on to those moments of joy.
The four Gospels, each in their own unique voice, reveal a God at work in the world through Jesus. Children had a special place in Jesus’ life and ministry, and not just because of their vulnerability. Children are blessed with an innate way of seeing and connecting with God that we can slowly lose on our way to adulthood. Even the way Jesus taught adults reflected his heart for the child in all of us. He didn’t break out a first century version of a PowerPoint – he told stories as he walked in the crowds, in nature or through everyday moments.
Theologian and author C.S. Lewis held children in that same kind of regard, which could be why his Narnia Chronicles have stood the test of time. Lewis’ own experiences with joy sparked a journey that resulted in his conversion to Christianity as a young man, and eventually bled into his fictional characters. In his fascinating 2013 biography, C.S. Lewis – A Life, author Alistair McGrath shares that “Christianity, Lewis realized, allowed him to affirm the importance of longing and yearning with a reasonable account of reality. God was the true ‘source from which those arrows of Joy had been shot…ever since childhood.’”
Lewis’ keen understanding of children’s need for agency underpinned the series. “In Narnia, characters do not wear name tags declaring their moral character,” McGrath writes. “The children (and readers) have to work these things out for themselves. The characters they encounter are complex and multifaceted. Their true moral character has to be discovered.”
Giving our kids space and agency to explore God’s world as leaders and not followers creates that childhood magic. They need time without a teacher, coach or guide – but where parents can just be present as witnesses. It’s a gift we can give them – carving out simple practices, time and places to be who God designed them to be.
Want practical ideas for making space for childhood magic? Visit Youthfront’s As You Go website for simple strategies to connect with your child and grow together in faith.
About Lisen Tammeus Mann: Lisen is the granddaughter of Richard Bloom, who modeled Christ and a love for his grandchildren that still inspires her. Lisen and her husband, Rick, are parents to two adult children, Olivia (24) and Jacob (21). Lisen holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She serves as Vice President of Development and Marketing at Youthfront…and is a loyal fangirl of C.S. Lewis.
