Big Life Lessons from Children

We often suppose that we have a lot to teach children, but I would argue that they have more to teach us.

Children come into the world with all the skills necessary to adapt and survive; however, they are quickly shaped by messages within culture and context that tells them who to be, how to act, and what to believe. There is only a short window of time in life when these messages are not the primary monologue and condition in one’s mind. Children grapples with these ideologies and actively defy them.

Children naturally explore the ideas, beliefs and attitudes that seem to be most genuine and positive for humans. These are the things that all the self-help books rave about and at the core of all religious goodness. These are the same things that people speak about at the end of their life. Somehow, these things can easily get lost in the middle of one’s life, particularly in the “adult” years.

The adult years is perhaps one of the times when we seem to get the most “lost”. This is when we seem to struggle with true greatness and the pursuit of desires that are heavily shaped by the narratives that we buy into. For example, this is the period of life when we may become so career or financially focused that we may lose ties with our family and friends or where we “don’t have time” to pursue fun or hobbies.

We have prioritized this way of being so much that anyone who acts otherwise may be told to “Grow Up”. In this context, growing-up means to stop believing in your dreams, following your joy, and to get back in line with what society has deemed it means to be an adult. At the same time, many people claim that they are not good at “adulting” or that they are “kids at heart”. It’s because somewhere, deep down, we all already know that this isn’t what life is all about.

There are messages everywhere to remind us what truly matters in life and they come in many different forms. It is strange that we require to hear them so many times for them to penetrate. In part, this may be because the other messages we receive are so loud and pervasive that it is easy to dismiss what we already inherently know.

For me, spending time with children and thinking about the ways in which children interact with the world is what works; perhaps it can work for you too. Children are so amazing at living a life that is less rigidly shaped by dominant messages and more in line with what it means to be human and a member of the human race.

When I get stuck or need reminding, I like to think of the life lessons that I have learned from children. For this reason, I have created the #LessonsFromChildren campaign. I have so many and the list continues to grow the more I reflect on it. I invite you to join me in sharing these simple lessons that children seem to innately live, but that us silly adults need to be reminded of and could use more of.

*Also, please be kind as this is the first video of myself that I have taken and I am being daring in posting, as it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFtIXOKPgWw