A lesson from children’s curiosity

I was lucky enough to accompany two preschoolers on a trip of "firsts" recently. Their first train ride, subway ride, and Broadway show. What a day! To watch them encounter those new experiences was kind of like looking up "joy" in the dictionary and seeing it defined by a picture worth a thousand words. The look on their faces was priceless.

Equally as mesmerizing was their fascination with the WHY and HOW. "How many minutes until the train comes?" "How many stops until we get off?" "What is that pole for?" "What does that sign say?" "Where are the rats?" (You can't make this stuff up!) They also enjoyed the simple pleasure of looking out the window at the tracks, other trains, and then complete darkness as we went underground. They fell quiet at times (a rarity!), taking it all in.

As we gave them their answers, I smiled at myself because I realized these five-year-olds were teaching ME so much. Their incredulity with the WHY and HOW was a powerful reminder about the importance of curiosity. As they digested each new experience for the first time, they wanted to understand it. In fact, they dissected it with questions instead of preconceived notions, judgments, or assumptions. They were interested in what the grown-ups thought instead of believing what they guessed might be true. And hypothesize they did!

What if we took a page from their book? What if we decided to be curious about why someone said or did something that wasn't top of mind for us, why a colleague recommended we do something a different way, or why our friends or family make life choices we don't understand? What if we asked WHY instead? We'd flip the script to think, "I am curious about why they said or did that." "I wonder why they recommended these changes." "I have to ask how they got that answer." There wouldn't be room for unfounded assumptions or unchecked speculation that deprive us of the opportunity to learn -- not only about others, but also about ourselves. Because if we're not learning, what's the point?

Let's just leave the rats out of it. (Luckily, we didn't see any. Whew!)

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Signs, schmigns. How do you read them?