When Life Teaches You Lessons Through Your Little Ones!

I am mom to an incredibly well-behaved, bright, and happy 5-year-old boy. No wonder that I often get to hear this from all the people around me just how well we’ve taught him about life lessons. Alright, I do agree I may have taught him a few things along the way but that can barely match up to the insane amount of things that he has taught me in these five years! He has been my greatest teacher and I am the proudest student there could ever be! When life gives you lessons, it feels amazing to have someone as cute as that to teach you something new every day, isn’t it?

When Life gives you lessons – What my son taught me: Namrata Badola

I am a technologically challenged being and struggle with using any fancy gadgets. But my 5-year-old comes to my rescue each time there’s a tech emergency! Not only does he sort out the problem but he also, very patiently, teaches me what I should do if and when it happens ever again. 

I have learned quite a bit about technology from him in the last couple of years. And I can proudly say, that now whenever one of my gadgets suddenly starts acting weird, I can do a lot more than just ‘switch it off and turn it back on’ to fix it! Also, he’s been teaching me Excel and constantly keeps me updated about various useful mobile apps that help to make life easier. Attaboy!

9 Facts about life lessons that my son taught me:

Apart from transforming me into a ‘not-so-technologically-challenged-anymore’ Mommie, my little genius has also taught me various facts about life lessons in general. When life gives you lessons, it improves your life drastically. If I get down to jotting each one of them the list will be never-ending. So I would share the topmost important ones that made me realize that life is a whole lot more beautiful and fun and a whole lot less complicated than I think it is! 

1. To start afresh each day

Until my little guy came into my life, I would often wake up with the events of the previous day still lingering in and out of my mind throughout the day. No wonder I used to be too worked up to completely focus on a new day. On the other hand, my little one wakes up with the biggest smile and enthusiasm that is incredibly infectious. His morning energy levels just rubbed off on me. I too started waking up every morning with a big smile (accompanied by a whole lot of cuddles, giggles, and snuggles of course!). That too absolutely no baggage from the previous day. 

Honestly, since I started doing this I’ve never felt happier, healthier, and more productive during the day! 

Lesson learned: Be in the moment and enjoy the present. 

2. That I should practice what I preach

I I feel pretty embarrassed to admit this, but I have, in the past, advised people about what I myself never seem to follow! 

Looking back, I’ve actually done this umpteen number of times! Friends, family members, and all other grown-ups have always been in their busy schedules to ever pinpoint this about me. But I can’t seem to get away so easily doing the same with my extremely observant son. 

So if I restrict his ‘screen time’ he ensures that I don’t spend my entire day on the phone either. If we don’t allow him to have certain ‘unhealthy’ food items, he ensures we don’t include these in our grocery shopping list at all! If I want him to finish his studies on time, he too insists on me working on my time-management skills!  Fair enough! I’ve incorporated these changes in my lifestyle to set a good example for him and to help him follow the rules.

Lesson learned: Adults take your advice seriously and kids abide by your rules happily when they see you following them too.  

3. To be happy, have fun and laugh more

Kids have this ability to make you smile even on days when happiness just seems unachievable. 

Be it a bicycle ride, playing in the park,  eating ice cream, or laughing out loud at my bad jokes…my boy just reminds me that it’s all so simple. With him around, there are these little, precious, and superduper happy moments scattered throughout my day. 

Snuggling with him while reading a storybook together, having impromptu dance parties, our wrestling matches with his favorite music playing in the background, playing silly games, and giggling away to glory…these are a few of our daily rituals that leave me with absolutely no time or interest for any kind of stressing and fretting. 

This guy, with his cute, simple, and innocent ways, has taught me to just lighten up and not waste my time sulking about the past or worrying about the future. He’s taught me that my default mood should be ‘Happy’. He’s shown me what pure joy looks like. And that it’s easily attainable. Something that I had long forgotten. 

Lesson learned: Happiness is enjoying the little things in life. 

4. To not hold grudges and sulk forever

One fantastic lesson that I have learned from my baby is the art of letting go and forgiving. The art of forgetting the hurtful things and not holding grudges. Children don’t waste time being upset. They’ve got more important stuff to do….like being happy. 

When my little one has a slight tiff while playing with his friend he stays upset for a couple of minutes. After a while, he is back to laughing uncontrollably and playing with him. This makes me want to pick up the phone and call that friend of mine I stopped being in touch with for some silly reason. 

His favorite food not on the lunch plate? Yes, that makes him sad but within a minute he gets convinced why he has to eat it.

I feel hopelessly guilty on days when I’m unable to spend much time with him or cuddle him to sleep. But it’s hard to hold myself together when he wakes up and flashes the sweetest smile. He gives the tightest hug that validates his love for me or the fact that he missed me terribly the day that’s gone by! 

Over the last year though, I’ve pretty much learned this art from my little teacher. It has remarkably improved my bond with my loved ones. As adults, we know that life isn’t all roses, rainbows, and unicorns and that sometimes unpleasant and hurtful things are bound to happen too. What we forget is that it is absolutely up to us just how long we allow that to linger on our minds and ruin our peace.

Lesson learned: Do not be bitter about the things we can’t control or change. Learn to let go. 

5. To keep asking, to keep learning

Kids ask questions. And a whole lot of them. Mine asks at the rate of 125 q/per hour. Phew. While I answer most of them by diving deep into each. A few times though, when I’m too busy to even google, I just make up some answers (I already know that my made-up answer isn’t making much sense!), and then I know what’s coming next…..another set of logical questions based on my silly answers!! Goodness, gracious!

Besides his unlimited energy to ask questions, what boggles me the most is his undying quest to know and learn more every passing day.

As adults, we are so hesitant about asking questions mainly for the fear of coming across as ‘unaware’. But I’ve figured that when you stop asking you just stop learning. 

Until a couple of years back, I really wouldn’t be up to the mark when it came to certain topics like ‘politics’ or ‘technology’. But now I’ve made it a point to bombard the experts (read my son and husband) with questions about these and have learned just so much! When life gives you lessons that are as powerful, embrace them.

Lesson learned: Be and stay inquisitive!

6. To be real

I wouldn’t hum most songs because I’d feel I don’t know the lyrics. I’m shy to dance because I feel like I might look lame and funny. But my 5-year-old can create his own lyrics, sing out loud, and ‘crazy dance’ his way to everyone’s heart! 

This is because he is least bothered about looking impressive. He’s just being him. He’s just always so real. And now, so am I. Impressing people isn’t one of my goals anymore. 

As long as I’m not hurting anyone, I do things that I love and I do them the way I’d like to do them. When life gives you lessons that are so beautiful, you shouldn’t care about if anyone’s impressed or not!

Lesson learned: There’s nothing more impressive than being genuine.

7. To be active

Thanks to my husband, a major fitness enthusiast, I too have a little workout regime. As much as I strive to stay fit, I can’t help but admit that my 40-minute workout would seem like a task to me until I took a few cues from my son. 

He can just jump and run around all day until his cheeks turn red and he’s out of breath. Children can do this happily without thinking of this as ‘exercise or ‘workout’. 

Now I spend a lot of my time jumping, running, playing, dancing, and monkeying around with him. He’s happy that we are playing so much together and I’m happy I learned that staying fit isn’t a daunting task. It’s as fun as you want it to be. 

Lesson learned: Don’t overlook ‘playing’ in adulthood. Playing isn’t just essential for kids. It has a huge positive impact on the mental, physical and social well-being of adults too. Try it!

8. To try new things

I (and I’m sure most adults) approach new things and activities with some strong predetermined convictions….’I can’t play this sport’, ‘I’m scared of heights, ‘I can never get this right, ‘I’m not so good at this….and the works. Unlike kids, we fear the unknown and hence rarely step out of our comfort zones. This turns out to be an enormous barrier to our willingness to try new things. Children, on the other hand, love trying new things, exploring, and having adventures. They are more than willing to give new things a shot rather than judging themselves as ‘incapable’. 

Be it swimming, ziplining, skating, kickboxing, cycling, football, yoga, or even designing… My little one happily and very enthusiastically tries his hand at everything and develops a new skill almost every week!

Lesson learned: A lot is happening outside my comfort zone. I just need to go there. 

9. To be excited about things

Same routine every day? Just when did our lives get so boring? As adults, we are always so caught up in our commitments, responsibilities, schedules, careers, and paying bills that we forget to feel excited about the nice, happy things that are happening with us along the way. 

My son, on the other hand, is excited about waking up every day, about meeting his friends, about a trip to the mall or the park. About going to school, about not going to school, about a new toy, a new outfit, a new book, about a rainy day, a cold day….just about everything! Observing him over the years I’ve realized that being excited about things energizes you and the people around you. 

Lesson learned: Once in a while, break the routine and be excited like a child about the simple wonders around you. Trust me, look around and there are many such exciting, little things waiting to be found. 

I’m in complete awe of my little Guru when and can never thank him enough. When life gives you lessons, you have to embrace them with open arms. I sincerely hope that I continue learning from him as he grows up!

By Namrata Badola

Winner of Top Mom Bloggers contest conducted by The Champa Tree. She is the founder of the blog Girlonaroll. Here article ‘When life gives you lessons’, about how her son taught her important life lessons, paved the way to her selection.