We Should Listen To Our Children More

I have become amazed at the logic and simplicity that comes out of the mouths of children; it truly seems that we are missing very intuitive insight from these young people. A few weeks ago, the child in my house, wrote out a very simple statement on the motivational calendar that just struck me as to how simple they process things.  He was told by his doctor that he needed to lose some weight, so he simply wrote out his goal for the month – “Don’t eaty too much”.  I supposed we all know the simplicity of loosing weight normally comes down to eating less than we currently do, but to the young people, this is all there is to the math. 

Last week we were having a family conversation about how much people value stuff over people.  This child made the most amazing statement that is truly good to live by – “All we really need is oxygen, food, and water, everything else is just a want and not a need.”  Now I don’t know about you, but this hit home with me, because I am watching a population that prides and values itself according to how much stuff they attain.  We have pushed way past the needs of survival, to how much stuff we can acquire, and impress people that don’t even care about what we have.  How many of us spend huge sums of money to buy a vehicle, only for the purpose of showing it off to people that we will never meet, and who really do not care?  I am not pointing fingers at anyone, because we are all guilty of trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” 

But while we are trying to keep up with a nonsensical idea of the accumulation of stuff, we are also going into great debt to acquire all these things, and much of it we simply can live without. The world has become trapped in a debt driven society that plays on the instant gratification that many of us have aligned with. Why are we not working what matters most, ourselves and our growth as a person, instead of fighting for the almighty dollar to buy more stuff?  Eventually our stuff will begin to control us and cause a great distraction from our self-development.  The truly sad part is that we are not born with these impulses for wealth acquisition; this is something that is taught to our children through our own actions and is carried on through multiple generations. 

Children approach life with a simplicity that we as adults have forgotten long ago.  If we could only go back to think at a grass roots level, with a simple approach that enriches humanity and develops societies based on good for all mankind; our world would become a much better place and human development would skyrocket and reach levels that we have not seen on this planet for a very long time.  The bible contains a very powerful message that points to how receiving greatness requires a different type of thinking: “…whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”  I am certain that many other religious writings reflect the same message that insinuate that overthinking things will keep us from truly manifesting in the people we can be. 

My major point to this article, is that we really are missing some of the most pure and simple ideas, that our children still have a handle on.  Even though we are supposed to be teaching our children how to thrive in this world, we should also be relearning and remembering that simple ways of life from our children.  Remember that everything is about balance and that we can learn things from any person, no matter their age, education, or status.  Take some time today and listen to what your child has to say, and you just might be amazed at how much you have forgotten about life!