« Innocence and Clarity | Main | Clear Vision »

January 30, 2005

Simplicity

I love the way children find simple solutions to complex problems.

During school visits I often ask children for suggestions on how to handle problems. Their succinct answers speak volumes.

"Don't push!" - Alex-kindergarten

"If you just wait for a minute, the pizza won't burn your tongue." - Alyssa - kindergarten

"Pray." - Lacy - 1st grade

"If someone sits in front of you in the movies, don’t moan, just move." - Travis - 3rd grade

"Write it down." - Jean - 2nd grade

“If you kick your foot, don’t blame the rock.” - Britt - 3rd grade

"Hug someone. Even your dog. But maybe not a gerbil. It's too small." - Nicole -1st grade

"If you have a pain, sometimes you just have to take medicine." - Caitlyn - 3rd grade

"It's okay to cry when you feel bad." - Michael - kindergarten

"Nothing is stupid. Even stupid things aren't stupid." - Callie - 1st grade

"Throw up." - Ben - kindergarten

"Ask someone to help you." - Rebecca - 1st grade

"Pick some flowers or eat cookies or something." - Raul - 1st grade

"Learn from things that happen to you, like don't mess with a bully who's already beaten you up a few times." Rhett Romain - 7th grade

"Sit alone in the restroom and lock the door." - Lisa - 4th grade

When it comes to solving problems, many people turn this simple act into a major undertaking. For some reason, we tend to dwell on our problems and build them into huge mountains that are almost impossible to move.

We walk around every day carrying Mount Everest in our minds instead of small piles of sand that we can simply sweep away.

To solve this dilemma we need only look at children. When a five-year-old child buttons his shirt, he simply grabs a button and after messing with it for a bit, feeds it through the eye in the fabric.

Once the button and the eye match up, the task is quite simple.

But if you wanted to create 'buttoning instructions for the under fives' and you needed to explain this on paper, the task might seem almost impossible to a child reading the instructions.

Yet, kids learn to do their buttons and tie their laces without much thought. Why do they do it so easily? Because they do not dwell on the mechanics of the job at hand. They just respond to their own desire to succeed.

Posted by trevor at January 30, 2005 12:13 PM