What Children Teach Us
A typically
developing baby learns to walk, not by being told to, “Go develop your muscles,
then practice by cruising the big-people furniture.” Then, “Be brave, trust
your own ability, take a step toward Daddy.
Oh you fell. Too bad. Try about
seventy-five more times and then you’ll be able to toddle a bit. Watch that big head of yours! Learn to balance! Down again? Try more. You’ll get it eventually.” No. A
baby is internally motivated to just keep going for it. Even though we in North America tether out
babies in plastic contraptions, and ill-fitting shoes for many hours of their
day, they still learn how to walk without being enrolled in lessons, expensive
tutors or coaches. Their lesson for us
is huge, if only we adults will notice. Children can teach us so much, and
point us to a better society.
In many first
peoples’ teachings, it is a recognized responsibility of the infant to teach
those adults on the opposite side of the Medicine Wheel about loving, selflessness,
caring, patience, and more. In reading
Thomas Walkom’s April 13/13 column in the Toronto Star, I am again reminded of
how are children teach us.
Walkom’s
anonymous source on outsourcing Canadian jobs being linked to the decimation of
our middle class, did admit that she has a child. She wants a better world for her child. For
the 10 years previous, she made very good money outsourcing the jobs. Having a child changes people – for the better. It changes their brains. It changes their perspectives. They want a
better world for their child, and expect more of themselves. It appears that Lance Armstrong’s son
unknowingly defending his father’s lies changed Armstrong in a way that other
factors couldn’t, as he admitted in his interview with Oprah.
In my role as
parent/caregiver educator I would lead discussions on brain development, screen
time, and media literacy for new parents.
On two separate occasions, I had a mother in my group who was on
maternity leave from an advertising career state that she couldn’t morally go
back to her job, now that she had a child of her own. The insidious marketing of questionable products
to children is big business.
As a child
care centre supervisor in a high school, the staff and I would often stroll the
babies through the halls on rainy days because we couldn’t go outside. When I apologized to a teacher for the babies’
exuberant chirps outside her classroom, her replay was, “Bring those babies by
anytime. They turn my students back into
humans in a flash.” She explained that
the teenagers spent a lot of time
showing off for their peers, swearing, “acting cool”, but when they saw the
little people it seemed to remind them of their real selves.
I remember
hearing former RBC executive Charles
Coffey speaking at an early childhood education conference saying how when
powerful men became grandfathers, it usually changed their perspective significant
way – for the better of their companies and society.
Canadian,
Mary Gordon’s successful anti-bullying program, Roots of Empathy is built upon
the wisdom of babies, and helps promote human understanding in classrooms all
around the world.
 |
| Addhttp://www.thecanadiandaily.ca/2013/04/01/roots-of-empathy/ |
There are
many more examples of babies teaching us to make the world a better place. If only we will listen, Canada could be
better for all of us.
 |
| My dad and me, 1960 |
