Find Your Inner Child

I recently started a new job as a gymnastics coach. I am mostly with younger kids coaching classes as young as 18 months to 7 years old. I have always enjoyed the presence of a child, their energy, their creativity, their silliness. Spending so much time with kids has made me think about how much we have to learn from them. Here are a few reasons why I feel we should reconnect with our inner child.

• They are completely free. They don't care about what others think. If they were allowed they would wear zebra pants, with a tutu, and a cowgirl hat. They act how they want, say what they want, and aren't concerned with how others will view them.

• They dance as if no one is watching. When I see children at a show, I admire their courage to throw their body to the music which ever way they please. They don't care if they are the only ones dancing. They are up front having a great time connecting to the music, jumping, clapping, flailing their arms and legs, stomping, swinging, whatever they feel, they do. 

• They love and believe in themselves.  Watch the way a child carries themselves. They are confident individuals. In my class I constantly hear kids complimenting themselves. I hear them proclaim,"I can do it", "Look at me!" I have little girls in my class tell me how pretty they look. Kids don't focus on insecurities or weaknesses. They think highly about themselves and believe they can do anything. 

• They are creative.  Listen to a child tell a story. It can be quite amazing what they come up with. They are a little ball of exploding creativity. As we grow older our creativity is forced to be suppressed. When I was in college I took a visual merchandising class. In the class she had us color a picture. Then she had us color the picture again, this time how we wanted to, not the way we felt it was supposed look. A purple sky, an orange ocean, colors were all over the place. It was refreshing to have creativity encouraged rather than suppressed. I never shut down a child's imagination. In class we do a straddle stretch. To get them to stay in their stretch we pretend we are making something such as pizza. We go around the circle saying what we are putting on our pizza. The options for a child are limitless, yogurt, Oreos, pink chocolate chips, pudding, moon cheese. I embrace their out of the box answers and hope they hold on to it forever.

• They do not judge. They do not judge people by their race, or their size, religion, hair color, or anything else. They are accepting and live an unbiased life. 

• They aren't afraid to love. Children are naturally very loving individuals. They say  I love you when they want to, they give hugs, they love without fear, and love unconditionally.

• They are forgiving. Yes their reasons for getting upset with someone are minor compared to what we may face as adults. But they are forgiving individuals. They don't hold grudges and move past things much easier than we do as we grow up. (Forgiving also includes forgiving themselves. They don't dwell on a mistake they've made. They move on.)

• They live in the moment. They aren't worried about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. They are in the present moment only. 

• They are fearless. They aren't afraid to try new things. They explore and take risks. They don't think about the what if's or the consequences. They are bold and courageous.

• They laugh a lot and are truly happy. There's nothing more genuine than the happiness of child. They smile and embrace life. They find beauty and amazement in the simplest things.