Learning Goes Both Ways
I love teaching my kids new things. In fact, one of the main reasons I wanted kids was too teach them things. What I didn’t know was how much I would learn from them.
Not only will kids teach you what they want and need, if you listen, they will actually teach you about yourself and things you may have long forgotten. For example, as I stated in this post, children are a mirror of your behavior. You may not realize you are impatient, aggressive or detached, but if your children are, there’s a very high likelihood that you are as well.
Children can teach us even more, though. One thing my children taught me early on was the importance of sharing. I’d long been the type to hide out in my own space with my own stuff, but it wasn’t very fun. Watching children play made me realize how much more fun things are when you share. The whole concept of play is another valuable lesson to learn from children. I used to take life far more seriously than I do now, and I owe much of that to my kids. Maybe the best thing I have learned from my children is the value of curiosity and wonder. I’ve always been one to learn as much as I can, but the amount of things I spend time being curious about has exploded.
While it’s important for us to teach our children good habits and morals, remember there is value in letting them teach you, too. I think when we forget that, it takes half the fun out of parenting and closes an avenue of communication with our children that is very difficult to reopen. Kids are people too, and everyone has something to teach.
Discussion Points:
- What have you learned from your children?
- Do you believe everything we need to know we learned in kindergarten?
- Would you agree or disagree that letting children know they taught you something is an important step in building confidence?
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