What I’ve Learned from the Kids

As you may know if you’re a long-term reader here, I work a part time job at a day care. Much of the time, I’m in the infant room (under 2 years old), but I also spend time with the toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age groups. It never ceases to amaze me what they teach me.

My sister and cousin as kids...don't they look like they know everything?

Often, the lessons these little minds teach me are really relevant to writing and my freelance career. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve learned from them…quotes, straight from the horses mouth.

“Sometimes things are boring, but you have to learn them anyway.” – age 4

Too true, my friend. The little boy who said this was talking about a particular subject he didn’t like, but he knew that it was important for him to know.  I think writers need to take that approach to research. we don’t always find the topic interesting, but if we don’t research and learn about it, we’ll write articles full of fluff that aren’t very useful to others. Sometimes things are boring, yes…but you have to learn them if you take the job.

“Give hugs when you are mad.” – age 3

This applies to most jobs, and life in general. I can’t count how many times I was short with someone in an email or on the phone because I was mad, but you know what? Clients don’t really respond to that very well! At the day care, when two kids get into a fight, we make them hug one another and say they are sorry. That approach gives the opportunity for the anger to subside so we can all find a compromise to the problem. You don’ t have to hug your clients, but when someone ticks you off, approach them with kindness instead of anger so you can work through the problem.

“Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT. DAMN IT.” – age 2

Ok, I’m not suggesting that cursing is a good thing, especially for a two year old. He actually got into a lot of trouble for yelling that – but there’s a lesson it this. When that happened, he was really frustrated about his mommy not being there to pick him up yet, and he walked away from all of us to stand in the corner of the room and just yell “damn it.” Word choice aside, we can all learn from that. Sometimes, when you’re frustrated about a project, the best thing to do is blow off some steam about it and come back to the problem later. After his little outburst, he seemed to calm done and was able to stop crying and wait for his mommy patiently. The next time you feel like throwing a punch at your computer, walk away for a few hours to cool off.

Sometimes, the world amazes me. If only the lessons we learned about sharing, love, and respect as a child stuck with us through adulthood. Sometimes, the kids humble me – but they make me a better writer in the process.

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