listology

soul pancake wants to know:

what are 5 things you (we) can learn from a 5 year old?

i respond with 5 beautifully-awesome things about kids:

1. question. every. damn. thing.
kids learn things for the very first time. and when they do, they tend to ask a lot of questions.
why? why do i have to? who says?
while it may be somewhere between cutely charming and ridiculously annoying,
they pose a really great question.
why?
as adults, we lose our right to question somewhere along the way.
maybe it is because our constant "why's" are generally answered with,
"because that is what we do"
but really, it is not.
not everyone is we.
people do different things differently.
so, why (or any w question word)
is totally valid.

2. find awe in the simple.
a peer of mine has a two year old.
on a particularly stressful day
she spots her two year old
stare at a leaf in complete awe
carefully observing its autumn colours emerging
the roads, ripples and life lines buried deep within the bursting colours
and suddenly.
her stress evaporates.
leaves are all around her.

3. laugh.
laughter really is the best medicine.
it does wonders.
and kids laugh at mostly everything.
life changes as we age,
but to find humour in the darkest of times
is a great gift.

4. imagine.
imaginations are beautiful things
at some point,
kids are scolded for their boisterous brains
they are told to ignore their imaginary friend
they are told to stop doodling
they are discouraged from picking their own outfits
(god forbid they do not match and then, of course, they do not make any friends)
kids see things differently. and if we could only carry that vision through,
our world might be very different.
tantalizing thought, no?

5. love.
kids love.
kids hug and kiss and cuddle
and giggle
and do not see colour
do not discriminate
they just love.

yup.
kids know where it is at.
one day they will rock this world
into unfounded beauty.