We tend to think of learning as a top-down process.
It’s understandable because when our kids are born, they depend on us for absolutely everything. They are completely helpless beings who cannot survive without us feeding, clothing, cleaning and sheltering them.
As they get grow from babies to toddlers, we teach them to roll over, sit up, stand, walk, talk and eat… Every basic function must be passed down from us to them.
So, it’s no wonder we tend to think that learning only goes in one direction (from parent to child) even as they move into elementary, middle school and high school.
However, if we stop to think, it will become very clear that (more often than we care to admit) it is our children teaching us something new.
I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to ask my 10-year-old how to do something on my phone. My seven-year-old is already coding his own video games, while I still struggle to use Excel.
But it is not just technology, kids often know more about conservation and recycling, self-care and mental health, and compassion and empathy than we do.
Felix Townsin, a 14-year-old Victoria teen who has created the A Million Acts of Love initiative and raised thousands of dollars for medical research in honour of his late sister, is just one example of a youth we can all learn from.
Children can have fun without spending a ton of money, they know to forgive themselves and others if they make a mistake, and they have an innate sense of activism that motivates them to stand up for what they believe in.
So, the next time your child tries to teach you something, listen, take in the lesson and thank them for sharing because the flow of knowledge goes both ways, and we can all learn a little something from our kids.
– Stacie Gaetz
