I often tell my son he’s one of my greatest teachers, because with his help, I gradually learned how to be a kid again. It wasn’t an easy process though. I was caught up in a world of worry, seriousness, and other people’s definition of “reality” for a long time before I slowly shed self-defeating thoughts layer by layer. Now, according to the kids in the playground, I’m officially one of them!
Here’s what I’ve learned along the way.
Forgive And Forget. Remember this when you were young? You would get mad at your parents over something and then tell yourself that you would hate them FOREVER. I can’t count how many times I was going to be mad at my parents FOREVER. Now, I can’t even remember one single thing I was upset at them for. We teach children forgiveness, but then they one-up us by showing us how to forget.
Some may say that children lack the capacity to truly understand the concept of forgiveness, but I feel we can learn a lot from them. Kids try to hold grudges, but rarely do, yet adults easily hold grudges over small matters, often trivial matters. I know many adults who will harbour a resentment to their death beds. I don’t know any kids who can do that for more than a few days. We laugh at this, and yet, it’s ironic because they’re doing something most of us can’t do.
Lose Your Role. Part of being an adult, and particularly a parent, is getting caught in the role of being an adult. Suddenly, you over-concern yourself with stroller recalls, being suspicious of strangers, and being more serious in general. I myself played this adult role for a long time.
Another huge part of the adult role is the need to be right. You can’t make mistakes in front of children, right? Wrong. As much as I’d love my son to think of me as Superman, I actually feel more super by admitting my mistakes and showing him that I’m pretty human. On the same token, [click to continue…]
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