The "Learn from Kids" Curriculum

It’s funny how life changes. Five years ago over President’s Day Weekend my boyfriend (now husband) and I went on a ski trip to Attitash Mountain Resort in New Hampshire. We had a romantic weekend of skiing, drinking, eating, and snuggling. I came home with the life lesson that even though I think I am super athletic, I will probably never be a good skier and that’s okay because as Anne Alesch always reminds me, I can’t do ALL the things. Besides, I liked the eating and drinking part way better!

Fast forward to this President’s Day Weekend where we had pretty much no plans – it’s hard to plan much when you have a one year old. Although we had no plans, we didn’t just sit around the house all weekend either – there is NO sitting when you have a one year old. On Friday night we had some friends over who have a soon to be 6 year old daughter. On Saturday after swim lessons, we went to the mall to get Larry some new work clothes. LJ also spotted a bright yellow North Face coat that he had to have (his favorite color is yellow and it was on sale so of course we let him get it). On Sunday morning we played in the snow and on Sunday afternoon, after I had a minor breakdown because LJ wouldn’t nap, LJ went to his grandparents for the afternoon and Larry and I joined later for a Sunday dinner. On Monday morning, LJ, Daphne, and I were out of the house by 9am going for a walk because none of us do well when we have to stay inside. Then Daddy stayed with LJ so that I could meet my friend for a much needed girls’ brunch. Monday afternoon we went with our neighbors to the trampoline park and Monday night we had Larry’s parents over for dinner so they could enjoy some of Larry’s cooked-from-scratch meatballs.

Oye- now I know that you, reader, probably do not care about the mundane details from my weekend. However, I think my sisters might(?) and that’s one of the reasons we blog (even though we have been slacking in 2018). I also think I might look enjoy looking back on this blog five years from now as I anticipate that I will miss some of the activities I did with my one year old even though they can be tiring as heck when you are in the moment. As a good mentor recently told me, “enjoy as much time with him now as you can because one day you’ll wake up and he will be 7 years old” (excuse me while I stop typing and hold back my tears for a moment).  

Moreover, I guess the whole reason I wanted to write this blog was to talk about the “lessons” I learned from this weekend as compared to the lesson I learned five years ago on my ski trip. I already mentioned the lesson I learned while skiing. This weekend the lesson I learned is one that I am continuously relearning over and over. Although it sounds cliché and is over-memed (is memed a verb?!) on social media, we can learn a lot from kids and the way that they experience life. There were two big examples from the weekend that (re)taught me the same lesson from the “learn from kids” curriculum: little kids are not afraid to fail or be laughed at…that fear is unfortunately something we develop as get older.

So the first example…on Saturday while we were in the mall, LJ was all excited about his new coat so he was running around trying to find Dada to show him. He got going a little too fast and SPLAT fell right on his face in front of two other customers who laughed at him. Did LJ notice they were laughing at him? No. Did he cry and complain to me about how his failed attempt to run fast? No. Did he refuse to try running again? No. He simply got up and started to run to find Dada again.

The second example involves our friends’ 5 year old daughter. On Friday night she wanted to read to me after LJ had gone to bed. She is just learning to read so she still gets some of the words wrong and needed my help with a couple of them. Did she attempt every word even though she knew she might mispronounce it? Yes, she did. Did she quit reading when she mispronounced one? No, she did not. Did she not even try because she thought I might laugh at her if she got a word wrong? No. She had no issues with making mistakes and “failing” in front of me. After reading, she wanted to show me her Doodle Book. It is a cute activity book that requires the owner to finish part of the picture. For example, on one page there was a flower vase with flower stems that required the child to draw the flower blooms. The page that we first worked on was a picture of a hamster in a cage and it required us to draw some other things that you might find in a hamster’s cage. I was “good” at that one. The next page, however, required us to draw a matching parrot friend for a parrot that was already drawn. I am a terrible artist and my 5 year old friend wanted ME to get the picture started! I actually said to her, “No, I can’t draw so you better see if your dad or Larry can help you…” And then, I suddenly caught myself as I realized I was teaching her that I wouldn’t even try because I didn’t think I was good enough. I quickly gathered myself and said, “no, you know what, let me try. Let’s work on it together.” We proceeded to attempt the drawing together and although the finished product was barely distinguishable as a parrot, I felt good knowing that I had modeled TRYING and not being afraid of FAILING to draw the picture.

And that, folks, is all I have. Really not earth-shattering but clearly easier said than done as we get older. Have you experienced this lesson with the kids you’ve been around? Is there anything you have not attempted as an adult because you are afraid of failure?