Children are the ultimate creatives

I've often thought about, and made this point to the class that I teach, that children are such amazing creatures. You can learn so much from them - their fearlessness, not afraid to take risks, ask questions, cry when they are upset.


Some time back, my (then) 3 year old niece came visiting. She walked into my room and noticed the Harry Potter book on my bed. Imagine my surprise when she asked me "Is that Harry Potter?"  A child who couldn't yet read the title; who made the connection from the artist's rendering on the cover to Daniel Radcliffe (whom she had watched on the movie version). How did she know or even guess?


My take-away 

• Sometimes we need to take fantastic leaps of faith to make things work.
• You don't have to know everything to have a good idea, take a chance, don't over-prepare.

Another time that sticks to my mind is when my niece and her sister wanted to ride on our reclining exercise bike. It was a fun adventure for them. The digital display had given up and it took me a while to realise that the batteries were dead. But where to find the battery compartment?


Once again, my niece to the rescue! The 3 year old calmly pointed out the compartment under the display, as if she had known forever what to do.


My take-away from this story

• We get so wrapped up in the complex, trying to show our intelligence and expertise that we become blind to the to the simple (and obvious) solutions.
• At times, it is a change in perspective that is needed, in my case literally a difference in height!

If you have a child story you'd like to share, I'd love to hear the 'a-ha' moments that came with it. Drop me a line or add a comment below.