OPINION: Children help us preserve the past

While children represent the future, they link us to the past in many ways.

With Christmas quickly approaching, I listened to my six-year-old granddaughter cheerfully singing “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” a song created in 1939. It’s one that I sang as a child more than 70 years ago and that my family has been singing ever since.

“It’s my favorite Christmas song,” she said, beaming.

Tuning in different radio stations, I was surprised when she preferred listening to some of the old-time Christmas carols, all the way back to Bing Crosby, instead of more modern versions.

That day after school she helped my wife and I trim our Christmas tree, taking great care with some of the homemade ornaments and often asking about their history.

Her exuberance over the upcoming holiday got me to thinking about how in a world with rapid and often unsettling changes, some things do not change — a kind of timelessness that offers a modicum of comfort.

In winter she and her friends love playing in the snow and sledding just like we did as kids. In summer, playgrounds with swings, slides and merry-go-rounds are like kiddie magnets, as they were for us.

Various animals fascinate my granddaughter like they did me long ago. A snowshoe hare that visited our yard and took up residence beneath our front porch had her rapt attention for weeks.

She clings to a stuffed animal that she calls “TB,” short for “Tiny Bunny.” I once had a teddy bear, as did my son and daughter and most children.

On hikes, her many questions about nature remind me of my own curiosity on outdoor ventures with my father.

In a way my generation couldn’t envisage, computers and artificial intelligence are quickly changing the educational and recreational landscapes for our children. But even with these developments, we can still find basic human values and proclivities in our kids.

I’m sure that many parents have noted at one time or another, that for younger children, a simple cardboard box is often preferred over a modern toy. Magicians oftentimes have difficulty tricking children because they observe the world on an unfettered, basic level.

At six years old, my granddaughter is already interested in the stars and planets — something my father introduced me to at a very young age. Recently, she observed that the sun was not moving lower in the sky, or “setting,” but that the earth’s rotation made the sun go out of sight.

Our children are entering an age of unprecedented change and untold challenges. Artificial intelligence is one of the tools that will help guide them as they confront global issues such as climate change, world hunger, disease, fresh water access and energy sources, to name a few.

I could be called an optimist, but beneath the veneer of technology, I think our children will bring forth the positive human traits of love, joy, compassion, sharing and curiosity that have been essential to civilization’s growth and development.

Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein noted that the basic questions children ask are the most important ones. And those were the type of questions he asked in a lifetime of intellectual query and discovery.

As adults, we learn from our children all of the time, sometimes on a subconscious level. The world is increasingly complex, but they see things simply. And to me, it’s the simple things, like a song about a reindeer with a shiny red nose, that make life really special.

Frank E. Baker is a lifelong Alaskan and freelance writer who lives in Eagle River.

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