“That Kid Ain’t Broken”

Thoughts on creativity, learning, and raising humans—not robots.

Let me tell you something most schools won’t put in the handbook.

The kid who won’t sit still?
The one who finishes the assignment sideways?
The one staring out the window like they’re watching a movie nobody else can see?

That kid ain’t broken.

That kid is thinking.

See, creative brains don’t always show up on schedule. They don’t like neat rows, timed tests, or being told exactly how to get to an answer they already found a different way. And when you drop that kind of mind into a cookie-cutter system, folks start reaching for labels.

“Distracted.”
“Unfocused.”
“Needs redirection.”

Maybe.

Or maybe the brain is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do—exploring, connecting, imagining—while the room around it forgot that learning is supposed to be alive.

Some of the most capable adults you know were once the kids teachers worried about.

Not because they couldn’t learn.
But because they wouldn’t learn on command.

And that’s where the real work begins—not fixing the child, but recognizing the signal.

“Uncle’s” Note

If you’re reading this and thinking of a child—
the one who asks too many questions,
the one who gets bored too fast,
the one who doesn’t quite fit the box—

Good.

That means you see them.

You don’t need to have all the answers. You don’t need to reinvent the whole system by tomorrow. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is protect a kid’s curiosity long enough for it to grow into confidence.

And if you ever feel like you’re swimming against the current trying to do that?

You’re probably going the right direction.

— Doc, “the unfiltered uncle” from Betta Life Imaginarium