I had a bad day on Tuesday, filled with the bullshit that sometimes goes along with interacting with adults.
I was upset, I was fed up, and all I wanted to do was lie on my couch, eat ice cream and do whatever you are supposed to do when you’ve been tackled by the beast of the “bad day”.
But when 5pm rolled around, I had coaching, and although I was tired and upset, I looked forward to those perfect little human faces that I would be getting to see and work with once I arrived at practice.
And as usual they didn’t disappoint.
In fact, as I watched them, coached them and interacted with them, I couldn’t help but think that all of us adults wrapped up in our own worlds, should step back and really take in how the little nuggets approach life.
There’s so much they can teach us.
These are a few things I noticed that night that they have right.
- They are excited.about.everything
As soon as I get to practice, they are through the roof telling me about their day, their new dog, what happened at school, a funny joke they learned. The words can’t cascade out of their mouths fast enough as they share everything and nothing, but all of it is served with a super high dosage of excitement and joy.
2. They are proud of themselves when they learn something
One of the funniest things that one of them especially does, is every time she has mastered something, she looks at me with a massive grin. It makes me laugh every time but it’s something that I soaked in from them on Tuesday night that I don’t think as adults we do enough. That ability to just stop for a moment and feel super proud of ourselves even for the littlest of accomplishments.
3. They pay attention and pick up the littlest details.
One of the kids was injured on Tuesday night and at one point she called me over with some urgency.
What time is it, she asked me? As I thought it was because she had to leave early for hockey/swimming/piano, name your other activity.
7:00pm I told her, how come?
Oh, I just wanted to watch the International Space Station that is supposed to fly over at 7:16pm she replied seriously.
I hadn’t heard about it, would have forgotten about it, probably wouldn’t have had the time to care about it, but this kid was stoked. And it was the scientific version of stopping to smell the roses.
4. Honesty and vulnerability come so naturally to them
It amazes me during a coaching session how open and vulnerable little kids are in expressing when they are not good at something. Not in a poor me kind of way, but just being able to admit their shortcomings and then eagerly try to improve upon them.
—
Towards the end of the session, one of the kids was juggling and I started chatting to her, and she said to me out of the blue, “Ciara, you’re my role model.”
And I said, “you know what Jules? You’re actually my role model.”
I meant it. Sincerely.
And I came home, after a couple of hours with the littlest members of our planet, in a really freaking good mood.
Essays on Life 