We Should Be More Like Children

Go to a mall, a supermarket, a bookstore, or your local DMV, and you’ll most likely see children with their parents. Now, start observing a child. Unless they’ve got their eyes glued to their dad’s smartphone, they are probably talking to themselves, waving their arms uncontrollably, shaking violently, and/or punching the air.

Everyone daydreams, but the difference between a daydreaming child and a daydreaming adult is that the child acts it out. In public. Without caring about how weird it looks. This especially happens when the kids are running errands with their parents and they have no one else to play with.

I started noticing children do this when my own little brother would hop around the supermarket, shaking his head while he made explosion noises. I used to tell him to stop doing it until I noticed other children doing the same. I then realized it was just their way of expressing themselves and I had no right to tell my brother that his way of playing was embarrassing and wrong.

We should be more like children. We should stop worrying about what others think of us as we go about our day to day lives. If my brother doesn’t care about how he looks when he pretends to be punched by an invisible enemy as he yells, “NOOOO!” in a crowded bank, then I shouldn’t care if my shoes don’t match my clothes.

Be more like a kid and don’t immediately demand to see if you look good in a picture someone took. Don’t be scared of tapping your foot and shaking your head as you listen to music on the bus. Dance to elevator music. Laugh out loud to a joke you read on your cellphone. It’s okay to sneeze during a test. Honestly, the worst that can happen is nobody saying “Bless you” (and if that happens, say in one breath, “Bless you, thank you, you’re welcome” loudly so everyone knows how rude they are).

So, be more like a child. God knows we need a bit more happiness, fun, and innocence in this world.