I went to Russell's coffee morning this morning. It's the first time I've been, up till now I've just been lurking on the outskirts or lurching with jet lag when I could have gone. So it was great to go today and enjoy such a festive occasion.
When I was talking to Richard, he asked me if I had an "Arthur", who for those of you who don't know is Russell's great little boy. I had to answer "no", at which point he said "Everyone should have an Arthur". Bt the way I think Richard's Arthur is called Thomas. I understand what Richard meant, but then I started thinking about it a bit more. And I think he's right in a much deeper way. It's not just about the joys of being a parent, it's about what being with a child does to the way you think. This isn't the most original theory but it just struck me again today.
I'll give you an example. Russell had kindly bought some crackers which we all pulled (I didn't get anything apart from a very lame joke) and Athur got one of those puzzles made up lots of different coloured triangles, which you are supposed to fit together to make a square. Arthur didn't do that, he decided to make a man using the different coloured triangles.
So he took something and looked at it and then tried to make something new out of the same starting bits that anyone else had. And came out somewhere completely different - it was a brilliant man by the way. I think that's what children do best, apart from being very cute of course. They aren't circumscribed by the rules of society and convention so they just do things differently. And in a way that's what we should be doing as planners as well. Making men out of coloured triangles, instead of squares.
PS. I also talked to Helen as well who was great and confirmed my theory about qual researchers and planning, it's all the same thing really.
PPS. I would have liked to put a picture of the real Arthur up here, but I'm not sure whether that would be appropriate. But the real Arthur is great.
PPS. I was very disturbed to see the new Star Wars figures. They are so much more cartoon like and completely unfanciable in the case of Han Solo.