Ten Practical Lessons Our Children Teach Us

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about"
 - Angela Schwindt

Without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring. Having worked for almost one year, my work team, the group 3 Production team of Beloxxi Industries needed to get out and have fun and Saturday 12th Dec. 2015 was the perfect time to put some ice on it.

However, my son Zuriel and a colleague's daughter Olivia became the centre of attraction at the party which held in OPIC Estate Agbara.

Zuriel and Olivia practically stole the show as they interrupted proceedings and even distracted my speech. They fought for my hat and later took turns to wear it, held hands together, played and posed for pictures together. Watching the pictures I, discovered there are much lessons to learnt from these two adorable two year olds. Hence, the ten practical Lessons our Children teach us:

1. Hold hands with those you love - Holding hands may not mean anything to you but it's certainly very important. It's a way of saying I want to be as close as possible to you. It brings comfort and a kind of contentment, it provides warmth and makes us to feel connected with the ones we love.
2. Make every day the best day ever - Enjoy your day as much as you can. Go through every challenge with grace; never hold back anything neither tears nor smiles. "Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life" - Burton Hills 
3. Tell those you love that you love them - Kory Floyd and other researchers have found that communicating our positive feelings for others through words or actions offers a wide range of health benefits. These include lower stress hormones, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and a stronger immune system.
4. Be free to be you - Every human being is different, be as true to yourself as you can ever be. Trying to imitate other people most times ends in frustration. “There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a person being themselves. Imagine going through your day being unapologetically you.”   - Steve Maraboli                      
5. Be fearless always - “To me, Fearless is not the absence of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. To me, Fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.” - Taylor Swift
6. Laugh everyday - A good laugh is a tension breaker. You attract positive energy to yourself when you laugh, it makes you feel better. Laughter improves even your facial looks. It costs nothing to laugh. "A day without laughter, is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin                                    
7. Nurture friendship - Work hard to keep your friendship strong. No man is an island, and therefore cannot exist independently. We all need people to help us survive and to do well in life. Life without friendship is like the sky without the sun.
8. Try something new - Don't be afraid to break new grounds, do something different to anything that has been done before. Try to outdo yourself, work to surpass your previous achievements. "Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment" .- Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. Keep no record of offences - You only hurt yourself by keeping the records of other people's offences; forgive them completely. The kids(Olivia and Zuriel) had a fight over my hat but soon after that, they were holding hands smiling at each other and taking pictures together. “Forgive or be unhappy. Which do you prefer?”  – William Fergus Martin

10. Distract yourself - Do not take life too seriously, some distractions are necessary for us to cool off properly. Patrick B McGrath Ph.D, said "Distracting yourself means that you never actually experienced what you feared". Distraction is an effective anxiety treatment. It is a helpful way of putting your mind on something other than the fear and challenges you are having.

Ten Practical Lessons Our Children Teach Us