Children Can Teach Us
5 Things We Can Learn From Children
My daughter is the happiest
person that I know. Sure, she has her moments. She gets angry or
frustrated like the rest of us, but sad? Not her. She’s not quite two
years old, but she has me beat, hands down, in the attitude department.
So in honor—and gratitude—to happy kids everywhere, here are five things we can learn from our children.
1. Be upset—and then let it go.
You don’t have to teach a child forgiveness—mine at least. It’s already
part of their natural mindset. Many of us have to learn forgiveness
because life sends us challenges—and challenging people—to deal with,
and forgiveness becomes something that isn’t easy to practice anymore.
So I’m going to take a cue from my tiny daughter—and let upsetting
things go after they’re resolved.
2. Listen to your body. My
daughter turns her nose up at the last two spoonfuls of her favorite
ice cream. She barely eats dinner if she’s not hungry, and she eats like
a bottomless pit when she is. She’s go-go-go, but when she sleeps she’s
out for the count. In short, my little lady listens to her body. Just
another important thing that we adults stop doing—and another thing our
kids can show us.
3. Laugh—a lot. My daughter thinks that slamming the kitchen’s cupboard doors to a rhythm
and then dancing to it while she’s looking at herself in the mirror, I
mean oven door, is hilarious. Let me tell you, it is. Still, my point is
simply that she finds fun—and laughter—in unexpected places. So, too,
should we.
4. Be friendly. My daughter is
shy with people she doesn’t know, but almost instantly flirtatious and
smiley with kind, friendly people. In this day and age, we surely need
to teach our kids the significance of strangers, but I can’t help recall
the Will Rogers quote that “a stranger is just a friend I haven’t met
yet.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not encouraging your children to bond with
strangers, but I am encouraging kindness—another of life’s simplicities
that adults forget the importance of.
5. Love like you’ve never been hurt. My
daughter loves—and loves completely and unselfishly. As adults, we get
hurt and we harden or close ourselves off from further pain. The thing
is, if we want to experience real and full love we will get hurt, but
the joys outweigh the pitfalls. So take a hint from a child—and give love with your whole soul behind it.
My
daughter has yet to experience the difficulties of growing up. She has
yet to experience other children’s cruelties and the cruelties of our
sometimes treacherous world. I hope that I can learn these valuable
lessons on living life with love and happiness from her now —through the
eyes of a child—and then show her this path again later if she ever
needs a reminder. While I know that, as a parent, I have lots of things
to teach my daughter, I can’t help but see every single day the many
ways that she’s already teaching me.
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