“There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.”

– John Locke

 I have always said that the one thing I liked doing best was being a Dad.  I loved every minute of raising my daughters.  They have always been and still are the light of my life.  Now, that they have grown it has gotten better, it is called grandchildren.  As of this writing there are seven and number eight is on the way.  My wife and I cannot get enough of them.  Children are like discovering the world all over again and each has their own perspective.

 LISTEN AND LEARN

You can learn a lot from children if you listen.  They ask the questions we are too busy to ask.  Things like, “What holds the sidewalk up?”  “How come I know my up from my down but not my right from my left?”  And there are countless more questions all the time.  These questions may seem silly to us but they are serious business to a child.  Remember that they are new to this world and it is all so mysterious and interesting.

MR. ROGERS

One of my heroes in life has been Mr. Rogers.  Every morning I would sing, “It’s a lovely day in the neighborhood…” to my girls (they hated it).  To this day I have a picture of Fred Rogers on my bookshelf.  Fred Rogers understood that grown-ups had much to learn from children as well as the children from grow-ups.  He would say, “You know, you don’t have to look like everybody else to be accepted and to feel accepted.”  A lesson all Success-Minded People need to know.  Rogers respected children and was truly interested in what they thought and did.  That is what made him loved by children all over the world.

DR. SEUSS

Another person who taught great lessons to children as well as adults was Dr. Seuss.  He said, “Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh, the things you can think up if you only try.”  This is a great principal of life.  If you did not read to your children you would have missed that.  Sadly, some who read still miss it thinking it is for kids.  There are no lessons that apply to children that do not also apply to adults.  You too are learning for the first time.  You have never been where you are right now and you will never be here again.

 BECOMING AS A CHILD

Children can offer you a great education if you will pay attention.  As adults we work so hard to teach them to be like us when if we were really wise, we would learn to be more like them.  There is a reason that Jesus said we were to be like little children.  Children can believe the impossible with little effort.  They are told they can be anything and they believe it.  It is not till they start to grow and we tell them they must be reasonable that they start to limit themselves.

Spend time with children and purposely learn from them.  Stop being the “grown-up” for a while and play with them, allowing them to teach you.  Fred Rogers always said, “Play is really the work of childhood.”  The world is full of wonder; the Success-Minded Person can rediscover it all from the eyes and thoughts of a child.

 © 2011 John Patrick Hickey