Children are God-sent and a bundle of joy we say. As they grow up that joy flies away and only the wrapper of the bundle remains. Rest of the life many strives to replace that joy with various other pleasures yet they miss their own childhood. One afternoon my 3-year old daughter rushed to me and said “Papa, come with me to the balcony quickly”. There was a tiny bird relaxing on the edge and her movements were very quick and swift. And it was not a migrated rare bird but a regular sparrow!

This was not the first time she saw a sparrow neither I was seeing it for the first time. But I noticed there’s a huge gap in our joys. After few days, she went on to draw and color a sparrow. I gave her “very good” remarks.

Corporate worlds to political worlds to world of sports & entertainment are trying to find various ways to excel in their respective fields. One of the best ways is to look at children and learn. I observed my daughter and other kids with that perspective and thought of sharing some of the traits which are missing in adults.

1. FREE – Children are free, open or in Mumbaiyya language they are “bindhaast” (Care-free). They freely dance without bothering about the feedback. They freely draw, sing or play any new games without the fear of failure or humiliation. Adults are gripped with reputations and contentment. They are gripped with fear of future. We must learn to live freely so that we can attract new things to learn. A child is always ready to learn new games, meet new friends, try new dishes and visit new places because they are “bindhaast.”
2. CREATIVE – We all know how creative children can be. You take them to seashore; they will build a castle from sand. You give them a glass of water; they will put some colors until everything turns blackish. Being an adult, we do not give much value to creativity. Adults have put creativity into two major segments – R&D and entertainment industry. As a child, I used to see exactly at which point of the door-shut, refrigerator lights will go-off. That is curiosity. I am sure many readers will agree with me on refrigerator thing.
3. LITTLE – Children are all about little things. They notice little things. They delight in little things. They are little in size as well. Just think about it – that little sparrow made my daughter’s day. She observed carefully how swiftly sparrow moved her body. She wondered that from tiny yet hard beak how beautifully chirping sound can come out. Trust me, we adults have taken these miracles around us for granted. We do not find time or do not find it worthwhile on little things around us.
4. NEW DAY –Everyday is a fresh day for a child. Even if the child will wear the same school uniform, meet same friends, play at same ground, have the same pencil yet they want to give a freshness to this new day. They are excited to start fresh. Adults carry their yesterday (past) on shoulder as a heavy burden and they fearfully stare at their future and by the end of the day they realize that today is already gone. Unless we adults learn to start fresh without any yesterday’s burden like a child does, we will miss something significant.
5. WEAR – A child is never ashamed to show the messes he or she did. They can come back to the playground with bandages after a fall. They can come back to home after messing up with their clothes from garden. Adults spend their life hiding the messed up things in life. Often that becomes a barrier to explore and come out. A child knows how to wear a smile and mess. Let’s not hide as we are humans and it can happen in a life which is so dynamic.

There can be many more than these five things. There are reasons why a child learns so many skills at such an early age. Indeed, there is no other humble way than to learn from a child these things, which I feel, are really required to enhance your learning. Find some time to spend with a little kid today. Good day!