By: Gabriela Yareliz
My favorite flower as a kid was a daisy. I loved a wild daisy. They were sunny and bright. I never discriminated against a sunny and bright dandelion, though. If there is a flower I touched a lot in life, it was that one.
I have memories of playing house or wedding with childhood friends, and we would gather the dandelions, which were abundant in Michigan, and make bouquets out of them.
At recess, just as I sat chewing on honeysuckle flowers and picking clovers in a patch, I also spent time blowing dandelions into the wind a million times.
There is something special about a dandelion. They can grow through a crack in concrete and thrive. They go from sunny yellow to fluffy white bulbs of confetti magic.
Apparently, psychologists even call some children “dandelion children.”
From Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett, Ph.D.:
A University of California-San Fransisco study split children into categories to see how:
“‘sensitive’ children (re-ferred to as “orchids”) respond to environmental changes compared with how ‘resilient’ children (who they call ‘dandelions’) react.
Dandelion children may thrive in most any condition, whereas orchid children tend to be more fearful and overwhelmed in uncertain social situations. Whether an orchid or a dandelion child does better or worse likely has to do with how families, teachers, and peers support their emotional development. If neglected, orchid children promptly wither—but if they are raised in supportive conditions, they not only survive but flourish compared with dandelion children. Emotion skills are likely the antecedent to building resilience.”
I was a dandelion child, and maybe you were, too.
When I read this, I thought of the Ella Langley song— couldn’t help myself:
Dandelion born to live free, ridin’ on a breeze
On a summer night
Tucked back in the weeds, guess that’s just me
In a bed of red roses, I’m the one growin’ up on the wilder side
So if you’re tired of thorns, I’m a little more dandelion
No stranger to a dirt road or a country muddy river bank
If you’re pickin’ me, you oughta know
I wasn’t made for a fancy crystal vase
A mason jar and old blue jeans, from my roots to my boots, I’ll always be
Stay resilient. This one goes out to all my fellow dandelions. ✨
GABRIELA YARELIZ 