Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

What My 2-Year-Old Can Teach Us About Life

December 22, 2009 | Personal

Meet Elyana. She just turned 2 years old. And even at her age, she has things figured out that many adults just fail to get.

Picture 1 My daughter wants what she wants. And, dammit, she’s gonna get it.

Case in point… while I was typing up some posts for this week, my daughter popped onto the couch. She came over to me, put her head right in front of my views of the computer, gave me a gorgeous little smile, then proceeded to grab my chin and turn my head toward her. She wanted my attention! And she got it!

Another instance… she is playing with her crayons. She loves to draw endless circles all over her notebooks. However, she wants mommy involved. She wants interaction. "Mommy!", she says. Over and over again. Then when mommy looks at her, she just keeps drawing more circles. Target acquired.

It is easy to say "Awww, she’s just being a cute little kid.". And, of course, you’d be right. :) However, I admire her persistence. I think her persistence serves as a great lesson for the rest of us. But, it isn’t just persistence…


Who Says Adults Are Smarter?

When I look at my little girl, I see a pure joy of life. She doesn’t take things seriously. She wants what she wants, and the idea of defeat hasn’t really crossed her mind. She is happy. Her smile lights up a room.

For some reason, people seem to lose that outlook as they get older? Is it because we’ve gotten smarter? Is it because we’re more enlightened on the "realities of life"?

My daughter hasn’t agreed to failure. Adults have. As we live through life, we stack up little failures. Some big and some small. In order to justify our own failures, I believe we take ourselves down a notch. We blame others. We downplay our own abilities. We make others the cause over our lives. Before long, life can look fairly bleak.

Life is one big game. The moment you don’t play it like one, you’re letting it play you.

For my daughter, life is a game. Today, it is drawing circles. Tomorrow, who knows? But, that same determinism that makes her, without question, grab my chin and make me look at her will serve her well in life.

We all have that same determinism within us. We all have the same capability of enjoying life.

When we look at a child, should we look at that happiness as just childish naivety? Perhaps, instead, we should realize that our children are probably a lot closer to the way life should be, and that perhaps we have caused ourselves to stop viewing it that way as we got older.

We’ve forgotten.

My daughter has it figured out. And my job, as her Dad, is to do everything I can to further her current mindset into her future.

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  • Give all you've got, have fun and keep learning. Along with this just take action. If someone can do this I believe that someone can be successful and they are in it to win it every time. :)
  • That's my girl!
  • Good lesson David, it is amazing how we develop complicated limitations as we get older and take a lifetime to recover.
  • Many don't recover. That's the sad part.
  • I love this post, I did a similiar post called think like a child to improve your chances.

    My child has this ability to defy nature, dreams are magical not impossible. Adults are weak, find your inner child again.

    Remember running so fast you thought your legs were gonna fall off? How long since you had that feeling?

    Point made, top post and re-tweeting
  • I love it, kids do have the best mindset. I learn from my 3 kids everyday. Each one has its own little personality. I think one of the things that happen to us as we grow up is we start to worry way to much about what others think and how we are taken and accepted by others. At a young age kids are kids and thats why we love them I just still back and observe mine at times.

    They will pick up things faster then you relize. Your also right it is your job to help keep and develope that mindset.
  • Amazing and cute post David. We do get to learn so much from the young.. Thanks for the share
  • Elyana is like all kids for whom failure is not an option and I guess it is because their needs are within their reach and parents give what they want at an early age. They are surrounded by people who succumb to their cuteness.

    But we have a lot to learn from them : determination, their happy outlook on life and rewarding their parents with their beautiful smiles!
  • Next time I'm failing at something, I'm going to remember her story and do whatever it takes to succeed.
  • Right on Sir David!

    Whenever I feel frustrated or grumpy, I have to step back and remind myself that I'm taking things too seriously. The game is the game. We're all here to play it, so if you have something bothering you, get creative and have fun with it.

    Rock it!
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