Children

Lens-Artists Challenge #298 – To Be Young Again

/ Leya / 40 kommentarer

Tina has chosen a lovely challenge this week – with children around the world. The very thought of it makes me smile, as I will focus on the happy children and youngsters I have met during my travels – and of course my little grandchild, Myra.

The soul is healed by being with children.
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

From start to finish these images were caught in Nice, Bhutan, Prague, Japan, Iceland and Sweden. The last image too is from Japan and the Golden Week Wisteria festival.

To be young again…to feel the warmth of a mother’s or father’s care – or from a teddy bear – to test your strength in games and play, to dress up and feel beautiful, to sing and dance and get applause, to be carefree, enjoy endless freedom, joy and love.

I also strongly believe that children and animals, if possible, should grow up together. Multiple scientific studies show that pets can have a positive impact on a child’s overall development and well-being. 

Pets help teaching responsibility, enhance social skills and verbal skills. They build empathy and offer emotional support, and last but not least – they promote physical health.

I look forward to seeing your creative responses! Please remember to link them to Tina’s original post and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. Thanks also to those who responded to Egidio’s “Music to my Ears” challenge. I have still got to visit more of your answers – but I only came home yesterday from our trip to Japan, and feel a bit jet-lagged… I really enjoyed what I have seen so far, and many songs I knew nothing about, so I learned new things again. (Blogging is learning!)

I hope you’ll join us next week too, when Patti leads us once again on her wonderful Pilotfish blog. Until then please stay safe, be kind and enjoy the journey.

I Had a Dream Tonight

/ Leya / 20 kommentarer

I never saw a child carrying or using a mobile phone in Bhutan. And even when grown-ups were using them, no child seemed interested. They just smiled,  and played with their dolls, bicycle wheels or footballs…

Always smiling with that open face you never see in the western world any more.

I had a dream

A White, White Walk – and Nostalgia

/ Leya / 22 kommentarer

Some fluffy snow last night made for a lovely family walk today.

I love it when there are layers of forest colors and different tree species collaborating.

They live together in harmony and they create harmony in the minds of us walking by.

On our way back to the starting point, voices rang from the meadow where my children used to play in the snow as kids. We heard a young family with two children. These two had climbed the fallen giant (see the header), pretending it was a ship. I stood listening to them, smiling. My son too. Then he said: ”I wonder when we start losing that magic ability…it should stay with us forever. I am sure we all would feel better inside.”

My camera battery was gone – so this shot is with my Samsung phone. I can still hear their laughter. And marvel at the very size of that tree. And – their imagination.

Thursday Thoughts – Childhood Dreams

/ Leya / 19 kommentarer

Children. Sometimes I wish I was a child again – maybe not all of you do, but maybe some of you …?

Freedom. I was fortunate – I had the best childhood I could dream of. Loving parents and grandparents…and not more human friends than I wanted. Animals were my best friends. Strolling in the forest, feeling totally secure. Quietness. Simplicity.

When walking the paths at Wanås, there were some children skipping in front of us – with their parents of course. I could not help but studying them. A girl and a boy – siblings – who quietly climbed the installations allowed. The girl exploring first…and then the boy took the lead. A bit more daring now…

Later in the day, I saw them merrily running and jumping over a little bridge in the fading sunshine. The boy in the lead. So…first the girl, leading the boy into this new, unknown  world…and when he felt safe and secure enough, he took over.

 

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And, the very little girl in the header, trudging away…how did she manage?

I so recognized myself in her. She was a loner, a little philosopher…

…until her mother called her name, waking her up from her reveries and reminding her she had to hurry up and join the rest of the little family.

Cosy

/ Leya / 15 kommentarer

I went to a gallery today, Dunkers in Helsingborg, to see the exhibition on Vivian Maier – a brilliant street photographer. More about her tomorrow…

When I passed by an open  door, I saw there was a room for children to play in. At the far end was a giant bed full of cushions and roses, and there they had snuggled up…to read about the world’s strongest and most kind little bear – Bamse. I wish I could have snuggled up there too.

Street photo Dunkers 072_copy

CFFC: Kids or Pets with Toys

/ Leya / 9 kommentarer

Who doesn’t like toys? Join in with Cee for Kids and Pets with Toys!

 

Auckland Zoo

 

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Thursday Thoughts

/ Leya / 10 kommentarer

I could have written about yesterday’s heightened terror alarm in my country; I could have written about the new article on restistant bacteria; I could have written about the war – in so many countries and places in the world. But I will not do that. We are full up.

I support people every day. I need positive energy. We all do. I want to listen to the children and the young. I read articles on people miraculously saved, people who are coming back to life, children who have this life energy despite the world.

Yesterday on TV (I seldom watch TV, but have done so now to follow the terror attacks abroad and the news from our government), there was this young boy, aged 9, whose hands and face had been badly burnt when he was 5. Now he had met his idol, a young singer who also had been severely burnt some years ago, in a train accident – Axel Schylström, 23.

The boy, whose name I do not remember as I came in late in the program, was interviewed on his thoughts about what had happened to him, and how he had tackled his fate. And, what did he think about meeting his idol and why was Axel his idol?

The boy was only 5 when this happened…and at first it was very difficult for him – face and hands badly burnt. Now, he says, he loves playing TV- and computer games with his friends and in fact life is rather good. He has been operated on several times, and luckily his eyes are working and he can use his hands. He is smiling. ”Sometimes people look at me, but I have got used to it”, he says. ”I think that if they wonder what has happened to me – they should ask!”

So, he met his idol, Axel, a singer on the rise, and told the reporter afterwards that you can do anything despite what has happened to you. Axel is a living example of that.

Calm and too early grown-up, this 9-year-old looks into the camera and says: ”You don’t change because of this, you know, inside you are the same guy.”

Bild: Daniel Ohlsson/TV4 , Axel Schylström

 

Travel theme: Faces

/ Leya / 11 kommentarer

Faces tell you a great deal about the persons you meet – and the eyes reveal even more. I love the faces of old people – their wrinkled wisdom. To be a bit bitchy – where is the wisdom in those faces being fiercely operated on (to look younger…)?

For Ailsa’s theme, Faces, I have chosen two charming couples. I hope you like them as much as I do!