Reverb December 13th - Sabio (Wisdom)

Today I come to you, literally, on a journey to my past: I'm on a bus bound for Boston which is where I grew up (well, outside Boston, but you don't know where it is, so let's not quibble over semantics, okay?). I am also journeying from December 22nd (my today) to December 13th to post the Reverb of the day about wisdom through the subtle magic of the posting options menu....

So, as I said, today's theme is Sabia (Wisdom). Today's question:

What lesson or piece of wisdom did you learn from a child this year? Did it surprise you?

I'm a full-time nanny to two children I've been with since the older one was four months old. I learn new things from them every day. Most of what I learn is how to be patient and let them just be who they are without judging them or "teaching" them to be someone or something else. I think that's a hard one for a lot of parents with small children, or any adult with very young people in their lives. It's a surprise to adults how early children show us who they really are. Their preferences and proclivities. Good, bad, or indifferent. In a sense we can try to shape them, or lead them to a conclusion, but when they come up with something entirely out of your sphere entirely on their own, it can be a little bit of a shock.

The thing I love most is watching them manifest things that I've lived with them. Not necessarily lessons taught, but on a day-to-day, moment-to-moment basis there are so many teaching moments. Times when you teach simply by being. Being patient. Being kind. Being generous. Being curious. When they got tiny backpacks as a gift and instead of wearing them on their backs, they both immediately put them on their chests and squeezed a baby doll in between, mimicking how they were carried in the Ergo. Rocking and swaying, and singing to their babies to get them to sleep. Or when they see a baby crying and go over to sing the ABC's to him because that's what I do when they are upset. When the big girl comes home from school with two pieces of candy because the teacher was giving it out and she insisted on having an extra to share with her little sister. Then she gets off the school bus and shows me the candy and says, "Does one of these have nuts in it, or can my little sister have it and it's okay?"

I learn a LOT of things from children pretty much every day. And I don't know why, but I'm often surprised.