The sacred wisdom of children: what can they teach us? PART 2

"Parents often think they are here to guide the little ones. When, in reality, the little ones come forth with clarity to guide you."

---Abraham

I was conscious of this before having children 3 years ago but had no idea how extensive their guidance would be until now. Last week I posted part 1 of this series and have put aside the 25 Steem earned into a steemit savings account for my 2 kids.

The rewards generated from this post and all others inspired by their wisdom will go into the same savings account.

Without further ado I present you ten more pearls of wisdom generated by my children:

1. No please or thank you - gifting economy

In a gifting economy these words are not needed. We teach these words because it is 'polite' but in truth we don't care. These are our children and we will hand them the toy regarless of the way they word the question. The point they bring up for me in their inability to remember these words (unlike most other words) is that they are simply not needed. To a child they are superfluous. And rightly so! If only we treated all other members of society as family, helping each other would be the norm and we could do away with please and thank you forever.

2. Instant friendships without judgement

Leading on from the previous point I have seen the way in which Esteban makes friends with other children so quickly regardless of their appearance or even their behaviour. There is an instant kinship simply because they are human and standing in the same space.

The lesson here is obvious.

3. Less conscious of tiredness when enjoying life

Esteban never agrees with our choice of bed time and has to be 'wound down' into a soft dreamy state with various sleep triggers. He is enjoying life so much all the time he appears to have no feelings of tiredness. Unlike us adults who do... and usually fix our tiredness with coffee or a siesta if we are lucky.

4. Ability to sleep anywhere (without alcohol!)

Luna demonstrates this well by falling asleep at dinner time if she has missed her morning siesta. I don't see Esteban doing it any more but at a younger age there appears to be more need for sleep and when they hit the wall it doesn't matter where they are, they literally can't keep their eyes open. Personally I struggle to sleep if I am not on a bed. Something I aim to change now.

5. Co-sleeping tendencies

Luna sleeps much better when she is in our bed. With four of us however things get too crowded so we have put Esteban in his own room now. He has been great about this but does ask that we stay until he is asleep and often wakes in the night shouting for us. What this ultimately means is that he would prefer to be in our bed which in my mind is the most natural place for him to sleep. Sleeping in separate rooms is the first of many boxes around us which take away from our sense of community. Anyone from a poorer community will know exactly what I am talking about.

6. Waking up at first light of the day

If there were no curtains in our rooms we can be sure both of them would wake earlier. They have been trained by us (perhaps wrongly) to wake up later, a few hours after sunrise. Personally I feel my body waking up the moment the night is no longer black and I am always out of bed hours before my family. Whilst I do appreciate this quiet time for working I am conscious that the most natural time to get out of bed is with the light of the day.

7. Eating without tools in a non-seated position

We have found that when they are young, they are more likely to eat a full meal if we shovel the food into their mouths while they continue moving their bodies. It is when they are able to hold the food in their hands and move around with it that they seem most happy. What can be learned from this? We love our sit-down meals as adults but perhaps there is something about the movement of the body which aids our digestion? Further research required on this one.

8. Understanding where food comes from increases the pleasure of eating it

Esteban is getting fussy now he is three years old. But I have noticed that if he sees the fruit on the tree before it is put in front of him, he is much more likely to eat it. The same is true for all the food we present him and if he understands where it has come from he will eat it. As such we have had the best success with foods we are able to grow at home where he can witness (and be a part of) the full cycle of life. It feels evident that more of us need to grow our own food.

9. Not interested in sunglasses

I have already written the post on sunglasses and concluded with certainty we don't need them. They are tricky in the way they catch us because the more we wear them the more we NEED to wear them. Kids are simply not interested in keeping them on their heads for more than a few moments to entertain us adults. If a child does not experience bright light to be 'too bright' then why should we experience this when we are older?

10. Instinctive love of all animals

With the exception of monkeys (since finding a big one in the house) Esteban loves all animals. In truth he still loves the monkeys but he is more wary of them since he could feel my fear in that moment. I managed to get this shot before picking up my fire stick to defend the family.

One of my points in part 1 was that kids incline toward a vegan diet until they start mimicking our own eating habits. Esteban is at the stage now where he knows what meat tastes like and chooses to eat it when he can (which is not too often) but I am 100% sure that if I killed & chopped up a chicken in front of him, cooked it accordingly and put it on a plate he wouldn't eat it. Yet as I have already explained, if I pick a fruit or vegetable from its place of growth and chop it up, he is very interested in eating it. The message feels clear to me and I dearly wish I could explain to him the origin of meat without traumatising him, but for now I am not sure I can.

Final thoughts

I encourage all parents to be conscious of the lessons their children are teaching and conscious too of the programming we have received from our own parents. We are not here to judge the past as right or wrong but to consciously evolve into ever more spectacular beings 🙏🏻

Who is @samstonehill?

He was a London based filmmaker until he sold everything and set out on a barefoot journey around the world, currently based in the south of France.

He is travelling the world with his partner & two children and with no bank account he has been living on STEEM & crypto for over a year.

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