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Learning From The Children

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Viswamitra, Jun 10, 2019.

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  1. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Which learned people?

    Learn from those who are not responsible for themselves?

    Try being around an excited child for extended periods of time. Try being around an adult who displays child-like excitement on meeting every new person and every new thing. Take an RV trip with such a person where the person is in your face 24x7 with the brief respite of sleep.

    Taking a risk is when you have to bear the consequences if the venture goes wrong. Children are mostly not accountable for any risks, their parents are. Children take adequate precaution too when risking what is precious to them. If they have a new toy they will be careful whom they share it with. For example. If they have a collection, they will swap with others only after estimating the value of what they are getting and researching it online.

    Ever saw a child who asks the most embarrassing question or makes the most untactful remark? Should an adult do that? Exploring new things, visiting new places are things children do when parents spend the time and money. Parents also would be as curious as children if they did not have the responsibility of the very children. I found a great deal to visit a country DH and I always wanted to visit, explore and hike a 6 day trail. Turned out it clashed with one kid's online course's final exam that has to be taken online in a 24 hour window. With no guarantee of internet access, I put my curiosity on hold for a few more years. DH and I will be that much older and probably not able to hike 6 days at a stretch carrying our stuff with us.
    Would we like to see adults routinely and freely, sincerely protest doing what they are required to do? Should adults speak their mind and express their words without calculating how the other person is going to react? Can an adult get away with "no intention to hurt but expression is only to love, learn and etc.?"

    Children do not have the responsibility that adults carry. All the child has to do is do reasonably well in school, make new friends, try new experiences, and come back dead tired and fall asleep. Parent has to go about his regular job while also taking care of settling into the new place. Comparing a child's lack of resistance to change to that of an adult is silly. The buck stops with the parent. That is big. If the adult is not responsible for his or her family's well-being, he or she will also be as carefree as the child and welcoming of change. Maybe children adapt so easily as they have little choice and little responsibility.

    What is so bad about multitasking as a skill? Let's try to live a few hours without multitasking and behold the mayhem that ensues. Multi-tasking needs to be employed with moderation, not totally eschewed like an infant focusing on his toy.

    If I did not have to make a living, do household chores, manage my investments, exercise, chauffeur kid around, meditate, socialize etc. I would also be in a permanent vacation mode sporting the beatific smile of an air-hostess at the start of a long-haul flight.
    You gotta be kidding, no pun intended. Children can lie with a straight face and looking you straight in the eye. We have threads here that are testimony. They can plan their lie so well that is turns mom and dad into detectives who put Mr. Poirot to temporary shame.

    Children are nice to have. They bring fulfillment and a sense of completeness to life. Life wouldn't be the same without them. But let's not over-glorify them. They need close to twenty years of care and bringing up. They tax the soul. Let's follow Kahlil Gibran's and similar wise people's wisdom as much as we can, bring up the little ones, turn them into responsible adults who contribute to society, and consider our jobs done. No need to emulate the little ones in our adult lives. Far from bhagwan ka roop they can more often be the devil incarnate.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2019
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  2. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @Rihana

    Thank you for your comprehensive response. We both live in two different ends of our understanding on the subject and hence there is no need to discuss this any further. I understand your perspective and let us agree to disagree. Neither of us are likely to move a needle from our positions.

    Viswa
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2019
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  3. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    I request you to close this thread. I don't intend to respond as it is difficult for me to regurgitate my view again and again. Tone and demeanor of responses are getting increasingly unhealthy for me to read and respond. Starting point for any discussion is mutual respect for each other's view. If it is lost, I don't like to waste time here in this thread. I have lived 65 years of my life as a child, adolescent, married man, and as a father and taught and continue to teach moral lessons to many children. I honestly learn a lot from their innocence. I have also read many posts here in this forum written by a great writer who said how much she learns everyday from the children she teaches.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2019
  4. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Great writer above refers to our dear Pyaari Viji who teaches us how to live life gently or our versatile Jaysala who informs and educates us with anecdotes from her life and mythology that leave us wanting more?
     
  5. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Cheeniya, I went and re-read my entire post #11 above though not for lack of better things to do. I detect no disrespect or anything wrong in its tone or demeanor.

    Unfortunately, it is past the edit window of 3 hrs. Please delete my post #11 above. Thank you and sorry for the bother.

    Best,
    Rihana
     
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  6. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Viswa,
    Good post. However there can be no general universally accepted rule. All children are not alike. But all children need supervision and guidance from their elders particularly parents till the time they stand on their feet.
     
  7. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Hari Sir,

    Thank you for your response. I agree the children need guidance from their elders particularly parents. But this topic is about what the adult can learn from the children by watching them. Perhaps, I didn't communicate this well in my thread.
     
  8. SpringB

    SpringB Platinum IL'ite

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    I do agree that above are great child-like qualities to continue to be in but with maturity and responsiblity of an adult too that will help one and all to live happily and peacefully. sir, I think you are blessed to interact with children who leave you with a positive feeling. When you are dealing with such kids for short period of time it is real bliss. The same kids when they are in a classroom continously for more than 2 hours handling them is not so easy for a teacher. I am talking about only children around 5 years of age. Some are really adorable, come up with lovely questions, have a beautiful child language (baby talk), show eagerness and curiosity to learn, share with others, forgets the fights and so on.... Yes there are good qualities to learn from these children

    Not all children are the same. some push your buttons so much that even a good soul dealing with such kids might turn into really bad people. Some kids do things beyond their age, get into trouble frequently may need more attention or maybe lost in their own world. Those children also teach us something valuable - patience, acceptance, being non-judgemental and so on.

    If a same parent had an opportunity to deal with two different extreme personalities of children by the time they become adult their adult parents can become saints. :) :) :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2019
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  9. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    With due respect, I classified some of the content including your line of questioning in your response as passive aggression. There is an implied reference that I didn't think through a lot before I wrote this snippet. Reference such as "which learned people?", "learn from people who are not responsible for themselves?", "try being around an excited child", and "have you seen a child asking embarrassing questions?", etc.

    In my view, we are here as friends to exchange views which can differ but we have to watch the language we use to communicate. We don't know each other's background. May be I am wrong and this language is normal in this forum and acceptable. At this point, I leave it to the judgment of the moderators.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2019
  10. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @SpringB,

    Thank you for your response. The intend of this thread is not to glorify the children but what qualities that they have naturally, can be viewed in plain sight, and try to inculcate if we lack those qualities as an adult. That is why I titled the thread as "Learning from the children". This thread is not about parenting or difficulty of the teachers in managing the children in a classroom.
     
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