5 Things to Learn from a Child

I spent last 3 days of my long weekend with 3 different kids of slight different ages but all under the age of 5 yrs. One 8 months, another almost 3 yrs and the last almost 5 yrs.

I am always fascinated by kids, their outlook towards life and their definition of happiness. And I have written more than once about how they impact my thought process.

But here’s few new take aways from my weekend spent with these kids.

What’s on the inside is what’s outside.

You cannot train or force the babies/kids less than 5 years, to like or dislike someone. You can try, but they will hardly follow your instructions. They will smile at you if they want to. Else they will just walk past you never caring for any consequences.

They are selfish, and they don’t hide it.

They will love you, because you will play with them. Or because you will give them goodies. They will do what you say if they want something you are offering, and they aren’t ashamed of displaying selfishness openly. For them, it’s simple - They need to get something out of that transaction.

They live in the moment.

If they like you, they will play with you, cling to you until their heart is content. Once you leave, they move on, not brooding over you for more than 5 or 10 minutes; until they find a new distraction. And then they are back to their happy self, like you were hardly there.

When they spend their time with someone, it’s true and honest love.

Those few minutes they spend with you, it’s an honest relationship. That smile they give you is straight from their heart, the love they shower is pure and unpolluted with hidden intentions, the kiss they place on your cheeks or their smothering - all of it is just to say, at that moment, they don’t have anything else on their mind, their full attention is towards you, and they love you 100%.

They will mark their territory clearly.

They are very clear about what’s truly theirs, and that cannot be shared, no matter how hard their parents try to train them on “sharing is caring”, it doesn’t matter. If a toy or bike or book or mom/dad etc… is their favourite, they will shield it from you. No deal you offer will be good enough to change their mind.

Well, and then they all grow into what the world is filled with today - us - grown-ups; who contest all the 5 virtues of a child as a vice per grown-ups standard. We are trained to do completely opposite of what we did as a child less than 5 years.

I say 5 yrs, because by then they are slowly transforming by observing and absorbing their surroundings, hence slowly manipulated by our world. So yeah, although they are still innocent, that keeps fading little by little, till there’s none of it left.

Anyway, I did recharge myself with the quality time spent with these kids. Maybe next time I meet a child, I will learn something new.

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