I strongly believe in the necessity of parents teaching their children all they are capable of teaching. Recently, I also remembered how much kids could teach us.

We set rules to teach our kids that they have limits and cannot do whatever they want without considering the law and others. We give them consequences to teach them right from wrong. We put them on schedules to teach them orderliness and the value of time. We make them finish and hand-in homework to teach them responsibility. Everything a parent does is a way of teaching a lesson.

If you watch kids and listen to them with an open mind, they will teach you a thing or two as well. Kids teach us how unimportant physical appearance is when they just go out, without checking the mirror first. The ability to not take yourself too serious is another lesson they teach. (Well, how can you not do that with purple hair or a ring in your tongue?) They do not put the same value on saving time as we do; they live for the moment. Kids teach many things, if we open our minds.

Parents teach life skills and prepare kids to be adults some day. Children have a way of teaching us how to be young. When a young man I know well decided to bungee jump, he taught me to take chances and never let opportunity pass you by. Kids have taught adults to see things in a new way. Adults know what they see, but sometimes don't really see it. A teen can tell you where it was located, what color it was, and who said what at the time they saw it. The young teach adults to not just look; they actually observe. Kids hear music where many adults only hear noise. They are showing us how to expand our horizons. They are teaching us to experience life instead of standing on the sidelines.

We teach them ethics and morals, history, and facts. They teach us to question everything. They say don't believe it just because someone said it was so.

You may believe you are wiser and more knowledgeable because you are an adult, maybe so, but I challenge you to look at things from their point of view. You might learn something!

Credits: Jo Ann Wentzel