School wants me to think, but I do better when I don’t

Yesterday my nine year old son and I had a conversation that I absolutely must share.  We were on our way to karate class, and he said “mama, I think that when I let my hands do the work and I don’t tell them what to do, it’s better”.

I had a feeling that I knew where he was coming from.  I wanted him to continue, so I just said “uh huh”.  He kept talking “it’s like when I throw a frisbee and I don’t think about it, it a really good throw, and when I do the test at school if I just let my hand do the answering then it’s the right answer.”

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“That’s wonderful Faris, when you are doing it that way you are letting the Allahtallah (innerbeing) inside you do the work for you and that is the best way to do it.” I said.

It’s what he said next that got my attention.

He said “But then why does school want us to think? When we go to school we are supposed to use our heads, but when I don’t use my head I do better.”

The best response I could come up with was “well, I think it might be because a lot of people have forgotten how to connect with the Allahtallah inside and they think that they will get better results when they use their heads – I am glad that you know not to use your head that much.”

We both laughed – that sounded so funny from the normal perspective – imagine a mother telling her child “no need to use your head”.

And then he said “ok, the best think is just to do it” and I thought yes it is, and intuitively, isn’t that what we say “just do it”.  Children are so wise.