List #3: Reasons to Adopt Your Inner-5 Year Old

I teach Kindergarten. In the past month and a half, I've been reminded of what it is to be young- like really, really young. 5 year olds have very little figured out. Their conception of the world, of each other, of their teachers and their parents, is constantly forming. They are shocked when you tell them that you, in fact, have a mom and a dad too. That you have a home and a life that exists beyond the classroom's four walls. They are figuring out who they are, who they wish to be, just like most humans. The difference is that as Kindergarteners embark on a search for self, they remain okay with who they are presently. Their minds will undoubtedly change, they will decide that they really don't like broccoli or that they actually do know how to read that word, but all the while they are unabashedly who they are. And who they are is fantastic! I'm serious. My kindergarteners do not care what others think about them, not in the slightest. Sometimes this gets them into hot water. When they are so themselves that they don't care if they have hurt your feelings. When they are so themselves that they spit on you or punch you because they feel angry and know no better than to authentically display such emotion. At times like these, their inability to censor their feelings or read situations may get them into trouble. With that said, I think their shameless display of self is worth that trouble. How different this life would be if we embraced our inner-five-year-old. If you're confused as to how tapping into your childish past could be of any service in the present, I've drawn up a list of benefits to adopting the Kindergartener mindset.

1. 5-year-olds are resilient. When kids bump their heads, they shake it off and keep moving. When they burst into tears for one reason or another, they bounce back within seconds. They're incredible in this regard. At 23, I am consistently practicing resilience. I could stand to take a page out of my students' books. While it has taken me months to climb up from my post-graduation low, I feel proud of the strides I've made. Though young children at times encounter challenges which are mountains to them but mole hills to the adults in their lives, many kiddos see and experience more trauma and trials than I will in my entire life. Yet, they show up for school each day. They might have a rough day, they may be unable to process everything they are going through, but they keep moving. So much of this resilience is undoubtedly learned from the strong, inspiring role models they likely have as parents and guardians, or as siblings and cousins when their elders fail them. Whoever they've learned this trait from, they've learned it well.

2. Kindergarteners are honest. They'll let you know when you're having a bad hair day or if you've made them mad. They tell you and then they continue on, and you do too. There are so many things I have held inside until near spontaneous combustion because I was too nervous/afraid/unwilling to be honest. Sure, kids lie, but not about what's important. Not about their emotions. Not about how you've made them feel. And that, I'm coming to find, is what counts.

3. Adopting your inner-five-year old means learning to use your imagination again. We all have the ability to imagine. It seems that for many, the imagination is a piece of us that has taken a long hiatus, so long that we can't remember when we last dusted it off and took it for a spin. My students are constantly imagining and dreaming. They are constantly curious, wanting to know what it would be like if pumpkins were human, or if apples could talk, or if dinosaurs still walked the earth. Their whimsical fantasies make the world a bit brighter, light we all know our world desperately needs.

4. Kiddos know how to LET LOOSE. Every Friday we 'dance it out,' celebrating the week we've had and the weekend ahead. My goodness, those kids can DANCE. They put their entire heart and soul into our Friday dance parties, and they don't care that their flailing arms and noodle-ish bodies look absolutely absurd. While they are not trying to impress, I am constantly floored at their high self-esteem and low concern for how they are perceived. In this way, 5 year-olds and their grandparents are kindred spirits, marching to their own beat and letting the world fall in step behind them. The rest of humanity, those aged 10 to 70 or so, are left searching for that lack of shame and absence of self-consciousness. I hope that, by some miracle, my students never question the beat they are marching to, entirely bypassing the pain that is self-doubt.

Don't get me wrong. I am thankful to know more about myself, about others, about the world around me, than I did when I was 5. I don't want to go back to being selfish and entirely dependent on the adults in my life. I don't wish to return to the daily emotional meltdowns and the inability to brush my own teeth without risking a mouthful of cavities. Yet, I do want to revisit what it feels like to bounce back like a rubber band at lightning speed, to play alone in my yard for hours and need no company other than myself. I want to add these 5-year-old tendencies to my 23 year-old being. With a collision of those two worlds, I think I may find something that resembles wholeness.