My head feels like its bursting some days. My capacity to learn new things, to add to my already overloaded brain, diminishes every year. In order to stuff some fact or idea in my mind, something else has to give or be forgotten.

I’m not the fountain of all knowledge. There are cracks and empty slots, which I’ve never filled and for many areas of expertise, I haven’t the inclination to do so. For example, I will never understand physics, so why bother to cram that knowledge into my head. It will pour out like water in a leaky sieve.

However, my children are different. They are born with empty memory slots and ready to learn. Calling an adult ignorant or naive is an insult, but to a child it is considered a blessing. Their innocence is celebrated and cherished. As a parent, I dread my kids losing their unspoilt view of the world.

They ask questions.  A constant stream of whys, hows and wherefores bombard me daily. Eventually, they will start to answer their own questions, using their natural abilities and curiosity, and my role will become redundant. Some days, it’s irritating, the expectation that I’m a walking encyclopaedia with a boundless memory for peculiar facts. Contrary to their view that I know everything there is to know, I don’t and sometimes (with my eldest, more often not these days) I can’t answer their questions. They look astounded. Well, they used to, now they roll their eyes and fire up the internet. See, I’m already losing my usefulness.

So what has this to do with inspiration? My point is it is okay to be ignorant, to let go of knowledge and lose it. The void of ignorance it creates isn’t useless. Imagine you’re a child again, not your childhood, but the state of innocence. For many years I had very little contact with kids, none of my friends or family had young children, so having my own was a delightful reawakening, seeing things through the eyes of a child is an education – it’s a wonderful playground, because all those adult boundaries, rules and processes can be stripped away and innocence means anything is possible.

Why not pretend you’re a child and write a story from their perspective.

My chosen book:

Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird.

Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge and Twitter id is @AprilA2Z

Linky List  for finding other partipants in the challenge is here