What Do You See When You Look Into The Eyes Of A Child?

Lately, I have been spending a lot of time with young children. Playing in the park, going for playdates or just meeting my toddler’s new friends; and every time I look closely into the eyes of a child, something in my soul simply stirs. There is this innocence so precious and pure, something so heart-warming. I feel an overwhelming urge to protect them.

Honesty

The other day, I had given specific instructions to my toddler and her friends that they would be dealt with serious punishment (No dessert after dinner) if they come and play in the kitchen. Interestingly, a little while later I hear a clang and before I can reach the ‘scene of crime’, I see one of her friend holding a piece of broken ceramic in her hand and standing near me.

‘I did not listen to you. I broke a plate. I played in the kitchen.’

Quite naturally the honesty with which it was said touched my heart deep, but since I am supposed to be the adult, I reacted with the following question.

‘Why did you play in the kitchen when I have told you not to?’ To which they all replied.

‘Because we like playing there.’

Needless to say I gave them dessert after dinner while explaining that playing in the kitchen is dangerous as they might get hurt hoping all the while that I am making sense.

Acceptance

Last week we went to the beach to watch sea gulls. While we were making our way to the end of the beach where the sea gulls come, we crossed lots of people sunbathing in the winter sun. Everyone were naturally in bikinis or shorts, with some of the women topless and lying on their chest sleeping. My toddler obviously noticed and said – ‘See mama, everyone is shame-shame. Why is everyone shame-shame?’

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Before I could give a ‘mama kind of reply’ she said – ‘Because they like it that way.’

I can never imagine such purity of conscience in an adult and was startled by her acceptance of what is and leaving it at that.

Living in the Moment

Living in the moment is what makes sense with every spiritual teacher preaching it, but it seems one impossible task. The result of which people suffer from stress, anxiety and every possible thing.  Have you ever wondered how naturally this comes to little children? Maybe they yell when they go to school first time but once there, they enjoy. They get involved with their present leaving behind their struggle in the morning.

I can never imagine adults ‘leaving worry’ and ‘getting involved in the moment’. I tried and could not hold onto the present for more than 30 seconds until another though came in and led me to another non-existent imaginary world of probabilities.

With all these thoughts in my mind, I sat down with my cuppa coffee when I happened to look at my reflection in the window. I looked closely into my eyes and saw that the innocence has gone, the honesty has been replaced with soft skills, the thrill of living in the moment has been replaced with unending ‘what ifs’. Where have I gone wrong? I wondered; and that day I realised that when I see into the eyes of a young child, I see what human beings are naturally supposed to be. I could not help but having tears streaming down my eyes because I realised that humans are born right but transform into monsters in the name of growing up. It is not them who need protection but the adults who need to be saved from deviating more from their basic human nature. Have you ever seen a child love? They do not bother to even ask the name of a person or thing they chose to love. At the same time have you ever seen a human love another human without a reason? We think only saints do that wise people don’t. I believe if we never tainted our conscience, every human on the planet would have had this natural capacity that we now call ‘saintly.’  Is tainting our children’s conscience necessary in the name of growing up? What would the world have been like if children learnt survival skills but kept their human nature intact? Yes, the world would have been a much wiser place. I realized that I cannot change the world, but as women raising the next generation, we can surely take care that every child retains their conscience led, clean and uncomplicated minds functioning while learning to manoeuvre through the world as it is. So, the next time when someone looks into the eyes of an adult, they see a conscience that is so pure and clean, something so heart warming, that it stirs something deep inside their soul.

Image via Pixabay

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