Dear LPG,

I read an interesting message on your pages recently where the writer suggested that being too strict with the really young children that we come into contact with when we are left with them, is often the way that we older members of the family feel we are helping with their development (►►►).

JW concluded that we must not teach them too much common sense for fear of stunting their sense of adventure. Still, perhaps we also need to remember how much we can learn from placing what it is like to be able to lose a few of the many restrictions that our life experiences have taught us to have.  

After all, when considering retirement in its simplest form, not having to work for a living is usually the single most significant change it offers. Once we get used to the health and financial adjustments accompanying the change-over, we can see the future in one of two ways. 

We can concentrate on all the things we can do or look at all the reasons to focus on all the things we will no longer be able to do. 

I think that this is the point when we need to appreciate the uncomplicated version of things and take the plunge before allowing our adult minds to complicate our decisions when it comes to all those things that we promised ourselves that we would do and then consider all the reasons why we can’t, or it is too late to get started. 

This is my attempt to reinforce JW’s message and suggest that we not only allow the little ones to jump right into puddles (while using a hint of adult common sense), but I also think that more of us older members of society should get brave, do our best to remember the sense of adventure we once had, give our imaginations a little more leeway and follow our little one’s example by jumping into some of those metaphorical puddles that we come across with hesitation. 

I hope that my puddle-jumping message manages to splash a few of the people who read this with an extra charge of positivity. 

LF, Croydon.