Kidsdom!

How many cartoon characters are you familiar with? A few – which I regard as my favorites are - Tom n Jerry, Aladdin...a few which I hate to watch – Mr. Bean, a few which I am forced to watch - chota bheem, animated series of Mr. Bean, kumbhakaran.. and the list goes on. My knowledge in this area was very limited and thanks to him – my toddler, for broadening my sphere of knowledge and making me watch all that I don’t.

Ever thought why only these things, like watching cartoons, are contagious? Why we limit our learning from them to the names of these cartoon characters. I know we concur when I say ‘Kids need to learn a lot but we need to learn a lot more from them’.

These toddlers have no work - then what keeps them occupied all day? Some piece of toy some thing which is so trivial for them and where in the course of life did we lose this patience – don’t we hear very often stuff like ‘I am now bored of this task assigned to me’. We speak like this for the job which is our own choice.

We can run campaigns regarding ‘save tigers’ but that genuine love for nature is a quality which reflects in children in its purest form. When was it last that you sat in a park/a garden or your courtyard for a few quiet moments relishing the beauty around you? You are lucky if you can recollect one such occasion.

Often we come across parents nagging their kids... Don’t do this don’t do that… this will harm you, that will prick you. As kids know nothing about the harm some thing can cause, they embrace everything. Such a simple learning- To embrace something, ignore the harm it can cause... half the harm is mitigated by doing so.

The trust with which a little one gropes for his mom in sleep - thinking the default location of this person is next to me, or, plunges into his dads arms - thinking, this person is bound to catch me - is a true definition of blind trust and of course a lovely experience.

I had read somewhere that children do not have sense of time until 5 years of age. If you tell them we will do it later - they hear it as we will do it. The word 'later' is not grasped and they want it to be done then and there. The only time they know of is 'NOW'. They live in the present in true sense - Live in the present! See one more…why don’t we learn this from them (I know I have heard it many times…so many that this line now seems to have lost the value it deserves!).

Ok now, are you of the curious lot or do you fall in the -‘know it all… seen it all… done it all’ category? I ask this as there is one more thing these little creatures teach us…never ending curiosity... they are so inquisitive... keep asking… keep digging things n thoughts, keep exploring… keep learning.. keep growing…OOOps! Does that mean we have stopped growing???