Why Everyone Should be Friends with a Three Year Old

When was the last time you had a conversation with a three year old?

For your sake, I hope it was recently, and I hope you are blessed with them often.

My godson is three years old and every conversation with him enlightens me and broadens my perspective. Family or not, kids have always fascinated me. Especially their learning process. But being so close to my godson, my fascination has grown tenfold.

Thankfully I get to spend quite a bit of time with him and each time I do, he’s grounding me with life lessons. Lessons many kids leave us with that we can all take note and be inspired by.

So here they are, some of the best things kids do that I think we can all learn from.

They love. They love deeply and openly

There is seriously no better feeling than the pure JOY that comes from little man’s heart when I come to visit. The past few times I’ve shown up as a surprise and his excitement radiates to the point it’s completely contagious. He tells me he is happy to see me, lets me know how much he has missed me (even if it has only been a day), and he is ready to play.

It’s easy to forget but there is beauty in telling someone you love them and that you missed them; and telling them often. And I think we all can agree there is so much warmth and comfort in hearing it.

They know that sometimes you need to switch up your approach and it never hurts to get a second opinion

Kids are so incredible at this. When asking “why?” doesn’t work, they sneakily switch to “How come?” And when Mom says “no” they try Dad.

Best yet, when it doesn’t work with Dad they go to Grandma and Grandpa.

They are always curious

“Why?” is the go to question for every little kid. We can joke about it driving us crazy all we want, but we all know at our core it is incredible. It’s actually a key component of their vocabulary development process. Kids learn the meaning of the words they are learning so they can apply them to their next situation or story.

Heck, we try to help people understand the importance of understanding why they do things later in life to the point it can become mind numbing. Remember that the next time a kid asks you “why.” Help embrace the curiosity instead of stunting it. (Though after about 37 times being asked, no one is going to call you out for just saying “because.”)

They are unapologetically themselves

We were in the movie theatre a month or so ago and Caden was laughing SO hard at the screen. He was talking loudly while slurping down his Icee and telling us how funny the car was. (Cars 3 is an adorable movie). In that moment I caught myself and my sister both looking around and almost, just for a second, telling Caden to be quiet. And then I stopped myself thinking who are you to preach authenticity and stop something like this?

Here he is. Caden being Caden, and not caring what anyone else thinks. The most raw and real form of himself he can be.

Add on the effects of the Icee that hit later and him running around in circles throughout the theatre after the movie was over.

People were staring.

One of the employees actually joked about it.

And me?

I soaked in all the joy and shared in his excitement.

They apologize, forgive and move forward

You may have broken the tower that just got built or played with the wrong car, but kids are quick to forgive you after you apologize. Just the same, they are quick to apologize when they do something wrong. Kids move on quickly. At the longest, a good nap gets them over just about anything.

The way kids handle their emotions is fascinating. They naturally let their emotions out instead of bottling them up inside and suppressing them. We joke and laugh about kids crying about the most minute things, yet it drives us crazy when adults won’t tell us what’s wrong. At what point do we start suppressing our feelings instead of naturally letting them come out as we do as children?

They embrace every single day and have a genuine enthusiasm for life

It is common to do sleepovers when I go to visit. And every morning as we are sitting having breakfast the topic isn’t what do we have to do today, it’s what do we get to do today. We always need to be doing something new and exciting, because doing the same thing over and over again isn’t fun. And of course the best days are spent outside, soaking in as much fresh air as possible.

They are driven by purpose and see nothing as unattainable

We were casually playing one morning when I asked Caden what he wants to be when he gets older. He shared with me he wants to be a doctor, a policeman and a firefighter. When I asked him why, he simply answered, “I want to help people.”

Talk about having purpose and believing in yourself.

Though what he wants to be changes daily and likely will many times throughout his life, I hope it’s always rooted in purpose and he knows he can do anything he sets his mind to. I mean if PJ Masks can have Owl Eyes, can’t we too?

It’s almost funny when you think about it. I read books and hear speakers, yet some of the best lessons I’ve learned have been while hanging out with my three year old godson. Which I suppose in many ways means these traits are all naturally within all of us at an early age. We just tend to lose sight of them at some point.

So the next time you feel a need for a drop of life advice, start a conversation with a kid. And this time, instead of thinking you need to teach them something, let them be the teacher. You’ll be amazed by how much they have to teach you.

God Bless

To my sweet Caden, thank you for the much needed life perspective you share whenever we are together. You ground me and broaden my perspective, and for that I will always be grateful.