Children Are Our Role Models
I love my bonding time with my 4 years old son. To him, it is our playing together time. One of our favourite play time is Lego time! We create and build not just models but stories as well!
The video above was one model we made, he called it his playground’s see-saw. He said it is papa and him on the see-saw. I know, I know, the figurine does not look at all like me! Ha ha.
Recently, I came to know a job description to hire a creative director for Lego Group : “Children are our role models. Their curiosity, creativity and imagination inspire everything we do”. How many of us as adults could say that children are our role model?
Children are the last group that comes to mind when we are thinking about people that we could learning something from. In fact, we tend to look up on someone excellent in our field of expertise, or whom has excelled at whatever we are trying to achieve, as our role model.
Children don’t have the education, qualification or experiences to teach us anything, right? The truth is that children have these traits that got lost in us as adults. We lost the traits of curiosity, creativity and imaginative. Curiosity is open, inviting and almost playful, not forgetting it is very, very powerful!
Just as in Science, curiosity helps to explore deepest questions of life, matter, environments and even of the universe – searching for answers. Similarly, curiosity allows us to explore deepest areas in our life, be it our thoughts, emotions or behaviours. When adults could learn to be curious about themselves and their lives, they become more willing to look in those dark places and trying hard things they previously would not do, because curiosity would prompt them on.
Curiosity prompts my 4 years old son to take apart toy cars’ parts and examine the components and engines mechanism inside. His curiosity rubs on mine and I did learn quite a far bit of engineering stuffs as I have to put them back to restore the functionality of the cars! Curiosity brings new learnings in life! When we don’t resist curiosity, we are open to creativity. Creativity explores, sparkles the courage to try and creates out of the norm.
Yesterday my son found a piece of slightly torn bathing towel we used for our adopted kitten. Instantly, it became a blanket for all the toy bears and we played “beary stuffs” for a while. Throughout the play time with him, the blanket has creatively changed to floor for his room with the bears, a pool of burning lava, a piece of cloth to wear as a king and finally a cape for Super hero! Creativity brings forth new ideas and resulting in innovation. Creativity allows new views and that invite new perspectives, broaden the space to accept changes and likely the ability of a more complete view of matters. All these are great attributes in moving forward businesses as well as in personal development.
Albert Einstein said “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere”. For children, there is no limit in imagination because they simply would not succumb to logic! “I need an alternative backup plan in case this thing failed.”, “Knowing well about myself, I will simply not be able to take up this task.” All these statements sound familiar, aren’t they? Logically it makes whole lots of senses.
However, imagination would break through such logically limitation and move beyond many new possibilities. The “impossible” into “I’m possible”. Both as a coach as well as a counsellor, I always find it true of the fact that we are all naturally creative, resourceful and whole, when their curiosity, creativity and imagination are invoked and awakened.
Many clients often found resources within themselves that they didn’t know they had. These resources evoke transformation, prompt moving forward and discovery of hidden strengths. Let’s learn from our children!