Kids & What We Can Learn From Them

There’s so much we can learn from kids. Take my nephew for instance. Ke, age 2.5 is visiting from Bangalore. He is worshipful of my dad, his “Ari” Thatha, and therefore wanders upstairs quite often to chill with us.

Being a fan of the pure, innocent, honest, entertaining beings that all kids are, I never pass up the opportunity to observe and bug him.

During one of these sessions, he was trying to get up onto the kitchen counter to play with a small container of kungumam. To do this, he first had to climb onto a chair, then clamber onto the counter and find the container which I would keep moving.

Still, he’d unfailingly and patiently find it and try and open it again to dump all of it out. Next, I tried placing him down to discourage him from making the blood-red kungumam mess. Unfazed, not paying me any attention whatsoever, he climbed back up onto the chair, used it for support yet again, and got onto the counter to his prized kungumam.

I pried it out of his hands and put him down once again. Still, he kept his eyes on the prize and repeated the same process again and again. I was immediately struck with an epiphany: all kids, not just my adorably stubborn nephew Keshav, are focused and stick to their goals with a one-track mind.

Not only do they ignore obstacles, but they are willing to try again, despite setbacks. Even if it means starting over. As long as it takes to finish, they just. don’t. give. up. They’ve got spirit.

His big sister, N, age 7, is so well-behaved, kind & thoughtful for her age. So much so, that I was worried other kids at her school would take advantage of her. She also loves to ask tons of questions, as kids are wont to do. She’ll ask about anything and everything so cutely and politely that you can’t help but patiently answer. It’s a good mental exercise for older people to do this, actually. Really helps you practice the art of abstraction.

“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” — Albert Einstein

N’s also got no qualms about singing the most galeej Tamil movie songs there are, and most importantly, asking for something she wants or needs (within reason) with no traces of embarrassment or inhibition. Of course, not all kids are super well-behaved.

Trust me, I’ve seen some real crazy ones. But what we can learn from Neelasha, is a handy set of skills — how to feel comfortable in your own skin, how to be nice and respectful, but still not let anyone walk all over you.