8 Things You Can Learn From Your Children

Do you think you’re smarter than your kids? Do you believe they can learn a lot from you, but they have nothing to teach you? Your kids have a ton to teach you. In fact, many of the negative issues in your life could be resolved by adopting the attitude and perspective of a child. Are you willing to learn from a child?

Children have a lot to teach adults:

1. Your children can teach you how to forgive. Children are excellent at forgiving quickly and easily. A child can forgive another child within a minute. How long does it take you to completely forgive a peer?
   
2. How to make better use of your imagination. Children can invent a game with a pile of dirt, a stick, and bubblegum wrapper. The average adult isn’t creative enough anymore to figure out how to get the last of the peanut butter out of the bottom of the jar.
   • We live in a time of unlimited information, but little inspiration. The days of knowing more than others are largely gone. The real power lies in discovering new ways of using that information.

Living in the Present:

3. Children are more present than adults. If a child is participating in an activity, their mind is focused on that activity. Adults can rarely keep their minds contained. They might be watching a movie, but thinking about work, or wondering how much the electric bill will be this month.
   • Children are imaginative, but their minds are rooted in the present moment. They spend little time thinking about the past or the future. Adults would be wise to follow suit.

4. Spontaneity. Have you ever heard a kid planning out their day or week? It’s doubtful. They think of something to do and then do it until it isn’t fun any longer. Adults do need to make plans, but a little spontaneity would be a great thing for most adults. Life presents many opportunities spontaneously. Many of them won’t wait for you to make plans. This is something that I think everyone can learn from children. Life is short, and sometimes you have to have a little fun.

5. Kids have open minds. They generally make their decisions based upon their own personal experiences, which are few.
   • Adults, however, are influenced by the opinions of others, the media, second-hand information, and learned biases. Adults have judgments about everything, even those things they know little to nothing about.

Quality Traits that Make us Better:

6. Enthusiasm. A trip to the park or to McDonald’s is enough to get any child excited. It takes little to make a child’s day. It takes a lot to get a rise out of the average adult. Children don’t resist life to the same extent adults do. Lower your defenses and feel some enthusiasm for life.
   
7. Curiosity. Children are curious by nature, and they investigate the things that make them curious. They constantly ask questions about how things work or why things are the way they are. What have you learned in the last week? The last year?

8. Maintain your social circle. Children stay in contact with their friends, spend time with them, and make new friends on a regular basis. Adult often limits their social activity to spending lunch with a coworker. Maintain a social life.

Children know many things that adults have forgotten over the years. The tendency to enjoy life, feel enthusiasm, and maintain social relationships is stronger in children than adults. Consider approaching life more like a child. You can learn a lot from your kids! I hope to learn from my children that will make me a better person overall.