Kids as role models

(Today I am sharing this column with my twin sister, Ma. Elena Macasinag-Dugos, who wishes to share some insights on the natural magical essence of children and what we adults should learn from them.)

I HAVE been fortunate to have three children- Ichiro (9), Ayaka (6), and Akihiro (2). Although most of the times they seem like little devils, children are true angels who teach us a great deal about how we can better our life. Yes, it is a constant struggle but they are the ones who teach me the most valuable lessons in life.

There is a reason we call children a gift from God. They let us to see the light side of life and just take each day with a smile. Watching my own kids I have been able to learn some things that have helped me take a new look on life itself.

It has been a genuine blessing watching my children grow up and learn about the world. Every time they are able to create or build something I feel like I’m encountering something that’s pure and important, not because of childhood innocence but because they work with the raw materials of their craft with such fearless confidence. They are the best teachers, the perfect mentors. I am looking forward to more years of learning from them.

We as parents sometimes fall into the chasm of thinking we know a lot more than our own children, but actually there are an incredible number of things we can learn from our children. Sometimes kids can teach us more than we teach them. We might learn to accept things as they are instead of demanding that the world and everyone else become just like us. As adults we become self-conscious, develop fears and try to control everything and everybody—all to our own detriment. Watching the intense concentration of a young child finding something new, we might learn to accept what is instead of what we want.

As we interact with our children and other children around us, we become aware it is we adults that have a great deal of learning-or rather, unlearning-to do. Yes, most of the time children don’t have a hint as to what they are doing, but unknowingly and without a hint they allow us to explore things that we are inclined to forget as we grow into adulthood.

As we get older, the bills, our jobs and the daily hustle and bustle of our mundane life often tend to overwhelm, and sometimes override our creativity and imagination. However, when looking to reduce stress and put more joy to our lives, we have to look no further than children as our teachers. When we approach life with the authenticity and zest of a healthy young child, when everything is an opportunity for ingenuity and fun, our stress decreases and our passion for life increases.

A few of the countless inherent traits of children which we adults can emulate are personal integrity, good play, time out, loyalty, enthusiasm in applying new ideas learned and fun in doing little things, perpetual optimism, spiritedness, and curiosity or sense of wonder and love of nature, their honesty as well as their reflexive instinct to express it, their instant trust and lack of judgment of both themselves and others, their lack of self-consciousness, their blindness to cultural notions of race, gender, and class, their purity of intention and ability to laugh deep down from the heart.