"What dreams did I ever have?"
But after racking my brains, I still can't recall what dreams I had as a child. If I had to ask what I want now, I should hope that my family is safe and healthy, and everything will go well! But since it is a "dream", it should be a more wonderful, more innocent, more interesting existence than "wish"! And I firmly believe that for me, it must have existed too!
I turned to Dabao Hanghang and asked, "What dreams do you have?" ”
8-year-old Hang Hang told me: "I want to be a football star!" ”
I turned my head again and asked Erbao Ruirui, "What dreams do you have?" ”
5-year-old Rui Rui told me: "I want to become the Hulk and protect the world!" ”
"That's what dreams look like!" The children's dreams are indeed bolder! So, following "The Old Man Who Picked Up Dreams", I also embarked on a magical journey to find my childhood dreams...
"Every day, old people walk around the waste heap under the bridge with their puppies, and they always find discarded 'dreams', such as a football played old and a guitar that has been cherished." In this book, it is always full of such well-intentioned words!
Even if a dirty football is played, we can feel the beauty of it once cherished by its owner, the passion of running on the court with dad and friends, sweating! Yes, those toys that were once loved by us but eventually discarded are just like our dreams - once all of us, but slowly forgotten by us...
Maybe we dreamed of being a high-profile movie star...
Maybe we dreamed of being an athlete standing in front of the podium...
Maybe we dreamed of being a heroic pilot...
Maybe we dreamed of being a highly skilled ice dancer...
There are also scientists, film directors, football stars, musicians...
I believe that every child's childhood has more than one beautiful dream, and these dreams guide us to overcome difficulties and become a better version of ourselves.
In the book, whether it is spring, summer, autumn or winter, the old man persistently "picks up" and 'repairs' people's discarded dreams every day! "He wipes, glues, knocks, welds..." This skilled old man is just like our inner persistence and processing of dreams - even after years of grinding and changing, the dream gradually fades, but it does not disappear, it just changes its appearance with time, becomes a more mature and more ordinary appearance! Just like the object that was repaired by this humble old man, it was just an ordinary guitar, an ordinary football...
However, something magical happened, do you know who this ordinary old man who lives in a log cabin under the pier, picking up old things day after day? When the day of snowflakes comes, the old man in the red cloth coat is actually Santa Claus! And the items that were repaired by the old man turned out to be the long-awaited Christmas gifts!
Kindness, persistence, ordinary, but magical – this is the essence of dreams that this beautiful, warm and loving picture book shows us!
Dreams are our childhood wishes, they have been so persistently cared for and insisted upon by us, even if the years change, we do not remember what they once looked like, but that little seed still has a magical effect in our lives. Eventually, it may become an ordinary hobby that accompanies and enriches our lives.
So we see that --
The little girl who had dreamed of becoming a big star became an elegant woman...
The little boy who dreamed of becoming a basketball star has developed a strong physique...
We didn't become scientists, but we were keen to tell science stories to our children, and we liked to fiddle with the gadgets in life...
We didn't become musicians, but we fell in love with classical music and filled our lives with beautiful melodies...
These childhood dreams, although in the end did not become our career, did not bring us infinite glory. But our lives are really lit up by them, and they become wonderful!
Finally, I slowly found my dream -
Maybe this bouquet of flowers in my hand is the little dream that was planted by the beautiful flowers that were fragrant as a child!
Maybe the music I listen to and the books I read are exactly the dreams I wanted to know the world and see the world when I was a child!
Maybe the wonderful time I've enjoyed with my kids so much over the years is exactly the dream I didn't want to grow up when I was a child!
Maybe these words I have written at this moment are just the little dreams that I have always had in my heart to express my hope and hope to be understood by you!
Children in front of the pages, what dreams do you have? If you want, leave a list of dreams for yourself ten or twenty years from now, and see what they become!
Parents in front of the pages, while recovering their childhood dreams, do we also understand the children? Read the meaning of "goodwill, persistence, ordinary, but magical" dreams for growth, the meaning of life?
Maybe the child just dreams of having a puppy, and this dream will support him to treat the people around him and the animals around him with love!
Maybe the child just dreams of becoming a LEGO master, and this dream will support him to discover the beauty of structure, the beauty of details!
Maybe the child just dreams of never growing up, this dream will support him to maintain a childlike heart, innocence and beauty!
Maybe the child just dreams of not having to write homework and having a lot of time to play, this dream will support him to improve his learning efficiency, play with knowledge, and play with wisdom!
Don't underestimate every little dream, they are the engine of growth, they are the nutrients of life, they make children lively and cute, full of vitality!
Don't hit every little dream, don't exaggerate the so-called lofty ideals, let us provide children with sufficient materials, waiting for each small dream to sprout and grow up. Through the years of "wiping, gluing, tapping, welding", these dreams will eventually return to their ordinary appearance and light up the brilliance of our lives!
--Author Feng Ying
Psychological counselor / author of the best-selling book "The Second Child"