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As grown-ups, we often approach children with ideas about what we can teach
them about this life to which they have so recently arrived. It's true that
we have important information to convey, but children are here to teach us
just as much as we are here to teach them. They are so new to the world and
far less burdened with preconceived notions about the people, situations, and
objects they encounter. They do not avoid people on the basis of appearance,
nor do they regard shoes as having only one function. They can be fascinated
for half an hour with a pot and a lid, and they are utterly unself-conscious
in their emotional expressions. They live their lives fully immersed in the
present moment, seeing everything with the open-mindedness born of unknowing.
This enables them to inhabit a state of spontaneity, curiosity, and pure
excitement about the world that we, as adults, have a hard time accessing.
Yet almost every spiritual path calls us to rediscover this way of seeing. In
this sense, children are truly our gurus.
When we approach children with the awareness that they are our teachers, we
automatically become more present ourselves. We have to be more present when
we follow, looking and listening, responding to their lead. We don't lapse so
easily into the role of the director of activities, surrendering instead to
having no agenda at all. As we allow our children to determine the flow of
play, they pull us deeper into the mystery of the present moment. In this
magical place, we become innocent again, not knowing what will happen next
and remembering how to let go and flow.
Since we must also embody the role of loving guide to our children, they
teach us how to transition gracefully from following to leading and back
again. In doing so, we learn to dance with our children in the present
moment, shifting and adjusting as we direct the flow from pretending to be
kittens wearing shoes on our heads to making sure everyone is fed and
bathed.
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