Observing my toddler bypass English words, I try to teach him and use gibberish instead to explain himself made me pause and think. My gibberish is his meaning. It is not him, it is me.
Like religion, language too is assimilated owing to the environment babies are born into. They pick up and learn the traditions even though we are all born without a religion, without man-made traditions but not without brains. A human brain is well-developed compared to other animals at the time of birth. Babies love from birth. They cry when they are hungry. They recognize mother’s voice and smell. But it is the peripheral inheritances such as religion as well as language they adjust to.
We must teach the little guys the ways of our world. Sure. I wonder though how did the aboriginals conform. Information channel should not be one sided, from adults to children. I feel children, even babies, have a lot to teach the adults.
And, number one lesson I have matured to accept is that children should be given the freedom to innovate and change things from an early age. They are tiny in physique, but they should be given the same respect we give adults to make decisions because their perspective is fresh, stems out of curiosity untainted by the ways of world we as adults grow to accept and conform to.
For innovation, we must be free and unafraid to question. And, children growing up innovating as kids will continue to innovate as adults, and that is a key to a healthy society.
I will thank my youngest for the lesson he taught me. I will forever endeavor to keep my mind open to other lessons he has instore for me.
