Seeing the world through your eyes – What parents can learn from children

It’s amazing how children learn so much by watching and observing their parents,but what’s even more special is how parents can learn to see everything in a new light when they are with their children.

Every new experience for the child, becomes a new experience for the parents too, as they get to learn a different way of exploring and dealing with things.

Everytime my 5 year old says, “That’s so cool, mumma”, be it when we are on a boat-ride feeding seagulls, playing in the snow in Georgia, driving a bumper car or doing a new art & craft project, I am amazed at how the smallest of things can be so fascinating to a child. There is so much out there to see and observe and so much that they learn from it. You never know when, where and in what context their little brains can bring up a piece of information.

In most cases, I would assume, this increases multi-fold, around the age of 3 or 4, when they start school, as they learn new things in a formal, but fun environment. They are more independent in their routine tasks, more fluent in communication skills and have a better understanding of language and speech to be able to express themselves better.  It’s also the time when toddler tantrums reduce (tantrums can still be fierce at times, though) and they become fun to hang around with.

I have realised that is the reason I love doing my everyday tasks with my first-born. From cooking in the kitchen, to painting, and to going to the supermarket, he just makes everything seem like fun (on most good days!) I have learnt that excitement and fun can be found in the most simplest of things, like buying your favorite chocolate from the supermarket and eating it, watching a cake rise up in the oven while baking and playing in the sand.

I do feel guilty of excluding my younger son, who is 2.5 years old, from our experiences now, but I feel that he will also have his time to learn, explore and express and when that time comes, I will get another chance to learn something new with him, all over again.