Children & Wonder

I have a quote printed on plain white paper that is pinned beside my desk right where I sit now, typing this.

It says this:

"Sometimes, looking deep into the eyes of a child, you are conscious of meeting a glance full of wisdom. The child has known nothing yet but love and beauty - all this piled up world knowledge you have acquired is unguessed at by him. And yet you meet this wonderful look that tells you in a moment more than all the years of experience have seemed to teach"


As I walked from the teacher's carpark across the playground today, within seconds of my feet stepping onto the pavement I must have had about five kids from the Year 3 class I work in call out...
"Hello, Miss Parata!"
"Miss Parata, are you coming into our class today?"
"Look at ______, Miss Parata!"
"Miss Parata, I got ______!"


(And I'm proud to say, the Headmaster was walking towards me, coming from the opposite direction at the same time, and I got more greetings than him!)


The kids make me smile. I love the way their minds work. What's important to them is what's going on right now. They're not worried about tomorrow, or the next day. They're worried about how long it is til lunch time and how much longer do they have to wait until they can go play?


Today in maths, I look over at one little boy in the class (who is often off with the fairies) and expected to have to get him to focus and get moving on his work. I look at his sheet and see he's already completed the whole thing. And it wasn't particularly easy either.

I love that kids can surprise you like that. Just when you think you've got them nailed, they pull out something that turns you on your head.


So many people underestimate children. I think they have more wisdom than we give them credit for. They're not jaded by the world yet. They think they can do anything, become anything, be anyone they want to be. Most kids, if you asked them, wouldn't tell you they aspire to be a secretary or someone with a desk job. They'll tell you they want to be an astronaut, or a zookeeper, or a superhero. I love that. That "dream big" attitude all kids have.

We need more of that.