Taking Children Seriously

by Scott Noelle

We live in a society that doesn’t take children seriously. Sure, we care deeply about children’s welfare; we do our best to help them to grow into healthy, successful adults.

But we, as a society, rarely take children seriously the way they take themselves seriously.

To children, play is serious business — channeling enormous creative energies and making huge discoveries. But to adult society, it’s “just” play, so interrupting or limiting it is not a big deal.

To children, feelings are extremely important, not “just” feelings.

If you want to take your child more seriously, don’t do it the conventional adult way, which is to assign weight to the child’s concerns. That only teaches heaviness.

Children take lightness seriously. And when you take their lightness seriously, you benefit by learning to take yourself less seriously! :)

Originally published on 2007-03-30
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