Keeping the child within us alive!

Photo by Bewakoof.com Official on Unsplash

The other day, I was at the park with my 6-year-old daughter. There were some youngsters who might have been in their 20s, who wanted to swing and they did try. However, immediately came a security guard and said “ ये बच्चे के वास्ते है ”, which translates to “This is meant for kids”. The youngsters immediately fled that scene.

I felt a little sad for them. On one hand, we say “Keep the child within alive” whereas I notice that the world is really not willing to let that aspect of ours come alive or there are not enough safe spaces where the child within could really come alive. And that got me thinking. So I dug deeper.

What does it mean to be a child?

There are many many many aspects of being a kid like — being silly, being forgiving, being curious-questioning everything, being in the present, not operating from any judgements or biases, laughing out loud, their energy, their mischief, explorative and experimenting in nature etc.

However, if you ask me to choose the top 3 of these, it would be to

1. Being in the moment, living in the present.
2. Being curious, questioning everything.
3. Being explorative and experimenting in nature.

Why is it important for us adults to have these traits?

1. By being in the present we improve our mental health, and overall happiness, we tend to shed our biases, see what is in front of us for what it is and enjoy. In short, we could have a long, rich and more joyful life.
2. Usually, we tend to go with the flow, practise whatever is in practice for a long time and reinforce our old thinking/perspectives. When we are curious and wonder about things like a child, we start seeing things from a fresh set of eyes and slowly judgements and biases take a back seat. Slowly, new possibilities, optimism and greater understanding come to the fore.
3. Our everyday life is filled with some kind of challenge big or small, and needs some kind of problem-solving and decision-making, irrespective of our jobs or roles we play. By being explorative and experimenting, we will add new tricks, and new learnings to our bag.