FollowBeing older doesn’t automatically make you wiser, or smarter, or give you more credibility. Being bigger, a grown up, doesn’t make you right. Just take a look at some of the people in charge, and then take a look at some of the people who put them in charge. Kids didn’t do that.
“Because I said so” is not an answer or an explanation, it’s something a bully says. Pulling your child along the street, holding their hand in yours, doesn’t mean you are heading in the same direction, or the right direction.
When your child is trying to tell you something, listen, really listen. Get down on your knees, look into their eyes, open your ears, turn off the rest of the world, and listen. They have something important to say. Be reverent, make it important to you.
Give them more credit, or some credit, or any credit. They have not been here as long, you’re right, so they may not know as much. But, they have not been here as long, so they are not bogged down, cynical, looking for a way out, tired, jaded, worn down, fed up, running out of time, afraid to take a risk, conceited, ego driven, scared, arrogant or unforgiving.
What have you to got to lose? Listen up people, they understand more than you think, know more than you realize, believe more often, see more without proof, judge less, remain open longer.
And while I still believe that our elders have much to teach, I am just as convinced that those who are younger also have much to say that is worth hearing. The next time a young one tugs on your shirt, yells your name, shouts something out, texts, emails, or whispers, lean in and have a listen, you might just learn something.
