I am constantly amazed by how much I learn from my two-year old daughter. Since the day she was born, she has been an inspiration and a guide in my self-discovery process.

I think we often overlook how much we can learn from young children. Somehow, we’ve ended up with the notion that we need to teach them how to live. While parents obviously have a role in raising kids with the right values, if we took the time to really observe babies and children, we’d find they already know most of what we adults are still trying to learn. That’s why sometimes, it’s best to go back to ‘babysics’!

Now, as grown-ups, we may not be able to follow these literally, but taking another look at how we can apply some of these simple principles to our lives couldn’t hurt.

4 Things Babies Already Know

1. Babies Make it Simple. They laugh when they’re happy, cry when they’re upset. They don’t mix the two up and never pretend to feel one way and act another. No complications, no misunderstandings. Babies truly live in the moment.

2. I Have Never Seen My Baby Carry a Grudge – at least not for long. If she’s upset about something, she may cry and try to have her way by manipulating her dad or grandparents. But if she fails, she doesn’t make it a point to bear a grudge when she wakes up the next day. It’s almost as if she sees each morning as the beginning of a new day. I wish I could do that!

3. Kids Can Be Smarter Than Parents. Learning is a continuous process for kids. As annoying as their persistent questions may be to us sometimes, isn’t it remarkable how curious they are? Their hunger for knowledge and their capacity to absorb and process information is one quality I wish we grown-ups retained. Kids are naturally observant and have inquisitive minds. They ask “why” because that’s what we are designed to do. That’s how we evolve. And yet, at some invisible point of time, many of us seem to lose that urge to question and seek out knowledge.

4. Babies Aren’t Afraid To Try. Have you ever seen a baby afraid to try something for fear of what others might say? I don’t know at what point self-consciousness, shame and embarrassment creep into our minds, but wouldn’t it be great if we had the carefree attitude of a one-year-old who does not fear ridicule or failure and doesn’t care that we might say “I told you so”?

If you look at it, life is simple — or could be if we so choose. Living in the moment, having limited needs, not bearing grudges or carrying guilt around, not being afraid, being open to learning – these are the well-known ‘secrets’ to a happy life that self-help best sellers tell us about. And it’s not like we don’t know how to live this way. We’re born with the knowledge. At what point do we lose touch with our inner baby? When do we start complicating things?

There’s got to be something we can change about the way we raise our kids so that they don’t forget what they already know and never have to relearn what made them complete and happy as children.

[Photo by author]