This text is based on a small conversation with two children. We talked about the questions on our emotion cards, and I got stuck mainly on two spontaneous thoughts the children got from the Wild and Safe cards. Based on the children's musings, I myself have speculated further about what exactly those words can awaken within us.
Wild. On the back of the Wild card is the question "When do you feel wild?" One of the children's (seemingly very obvious) answers was: "When my miss leaves the classroom". Perhaps a feeling many of us can relate to? ("When the cat is gone, the rats dance on the table"..)
It made me think further.. (The rest of the text is thus my thoughts with the child's reflection only as a starting point). When are we wild today? And what is it to be wild? The word seems to be strongly connected with the feeling of freedom - when the authoritarian disappears and (to some extent?) the rules we know (if only for the moment) cease. Is it a bit forbidden to be wild? A little outside the box that we've learned is important. May you be wild; only in certain environments? If so - why is that? If the word is so intertwined with the feeling of freedom, maybe we should dare to show the children - and ourselves - that it is actually possible to be wild without breaking important rules. Imagine if the rules even become easier to follow if a certain amount of wildness is allowed to a greater extent..
Another question on the Wild card is "Why are adults rarely wild?" and based on the child's thought here, I really wonder that too. What is it that scares us?
Safe. "How does it feel in the body to be safe?" we read on the card Trygg. The child's answer is (it also comes quickly, without thinking): "When you don't feel like you're going to die." (Again, the rest of the text is just my thoughts with that sentence as a basis). When are we safe? When no dangers lurk, when we are surrounded by love or maybe when we feel we can be ourselves? Probably a combination of all that. Different in different contexts and of course it also depends on what our lives look like (I guess security means something different to someone who has never had a roof over their head or food for the day).
If the word safe is put as the opposite of death (thus the symbol of what perhaps scares us the most) - is there a way to feel safe while being okay with, or having to accept, the impermanence of life? Can those who live in constant danger and worry also experience security? How does it look different in that case and how can we adults use such knowledge as a tool to create more security? Greater perspective tends to reduce anxiety.
Wild and safe. Both words seem (to me) to lead to the desire to be free. You dare to be wild when you feel free and safe, you become when you are free from big, scary, elusive thoughts.. Maybe there is reason to reflect a little on that as a parent. What image of freedom do I convey - do my children feel free? Wild and safe?
