Remember to Learn When Teaching Children

Children depend on us from the beginning. It is our responsibility to teach them the basics for life. Do we get so worked up in teaching that we forget how to be taught? Do we know so much that we are unable to learn ourselves? While teaching our children how to feed, talk and read how can we not see what they can teach us when there is so much to learn?

Children have such a strong faith in what they believe. They know a Mommy's little kiss on a booboo really works, and Daddies always chase away the monsters under the bed. Nothing causes them to falter; they will never lose faith. We adults rarely have faith in anything, not even ourselves.

We are also terribly unsure of ourselves. Ask any child what they want to be when they grow up, and there is no doubt in their mind that they won't be a firefighting-doctoring-superhero farmer, who becomes president. And yet those of us who are grown up will let anything, any little amount of uncertainty, stand in the way of our dreams.

While we are growing older, we buy the anti-aging creams, pills and potions, and inject poisons into our skin, constantly looking for a fountain of youth. But, in youth's mind, wrinkles are fascinating, a tribute to our greatness. Every kid knows the best grandma is the one with lots of wrinkles.

We put to much emphasis on money. We pay ten dollars to see a movie, five for a coffee, and have to take ourselves to special clubs to dance. Children don't need money to dance. Spinning circles in the yard is a ballet, and a puppet show behind the couch is the biggest hit of the summer.

Children enjoy each little drop of life. They do stop to smell the roses, and then they go home and paint them. It is not just raining, it is making polka dots on the dirt, making the leaves dance, and wiggly worms come out of hiding. But we don't see any of that. While we are all hurrying around, giving time only to our errands, and taking none for ourselves. Our children are showing how to slow down, but we don't listen to their lessons; we are, after all, the teachers. And then we end up frustrated, tired, and discouraged. When all we had to do was stop, and take a little time to be taught.