For close to

two decades I have spent my days studying children, consulting with others

about children, in therapy with children, and raising my own. I coach

little league soccer, I'm in a grade school at least once a week, and

I regularly work with babies and toddlers at my church. I look for opportunities

to be around children.

I know some

people consider my work with children as an altruistic act, but the truth

is my motives are partially selfish. Children energize me. After a five-hour

field trip with kindergarten children, I have more energy than I did when

we started.

Children not

only give me energy, but when I pay close attention they remind me of

some of life's most important lessons. These are some of those lessons.

I've learned

to find pleasure in little things. While I'm busy worrying about balancing

my checkbook, world events, or my job, my son is outside noticing the

beauty of a beetle or a butterfly, the interesting way that water forms

on a spider's web in the morning, or the pleasure of swinging on the playground

and making up a song. On a bus ride while I'm thinking about reaching

my destination, the children around me are enjoying each other, looking

out the window counting cows or telling funny stories about each other.

Children teach me to slow down, laugh more, and live in the moment.

Children remind

me of the importance of touch. They have no understanding of personal

space or privacy lessons they will eventually learn but the purity of

closeness with children is powerful. They aren't afraid to hold hands,

to give a hug to someone they like, or to kiss the forehead of someone

who is feeling sad. They don't have to worry about lawyers, lawsuits,

allegations, or innuendo. They simply act out what they feel. I can gauge

my son's moods by how much energy he puts into a hug. When he is really

excited and happy to see me, he makes a running start before he hugs me.

This tells me how much he missed me. At bedtime he once told me that when

I was gone he missed me "one thousand kisses." Children teach

me how to be close to another human being.

Children constantly

remind me how readily they accept the differences of others. Skin color,

gender, size, birth defects, and language differences are easily overcome

for children. They notice differences immediately, but they accept them

almost as quickly. I have observed children on the playground helping

a child in a wheel chair move from one area to another so the child could

at least watch the other children play ball. They matter-of-factly accept

situations as they are and go from there - no blame, no accusations, no

condemnation, and no superior attitude. From children I've learned to

look beyond the surface.

When I am around

children, I remember how important it is to forget. Adults work hard at

remembering things, but we fail to realize that some things should be

forgotten. A child can quickly go from an embarrassing or hurtful situation