By Toni Guagenti
Published: November 8, 2007
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As we busy ourselves, preparing in earnest for the holiday season, we often find ourselves giving thanks for what we have and the people we love. But have you ever stepped back to look at the world through the eyes of a child, to see what they can teach us about genuine happiness and gratefulness? Somehow, taking a look at their world of innocence can help us appreciate a time we typically leave behind, when we cross into the adult world. Tidewater Parent asked a few people what children teach them about happiness as the spirit of giving descends upon us this season:

"From the perspective of someone passionately devoted to children's theater," says Frankie Little Hardin, managing director of the 40th StreetStage in Norfolk, "children in an audience teach you to be in the moment. "They teach us to just accept what is there and to take it at face value, they just react so spontaneously and so immediately," Hardin says. Children need to leave televisions and video games behind and do something active, like theater, she says. If they're bored, they'll tell you. If they're engaged, they'll let you know, Hardin says. You don't understand the great gift they're giving you. They're telling you what you're doing right now is not working (that) you need to adapt."

"I have an 11-year-old niece," Abby, who lives in Nashville, writes Meredith Hemenway, the public relations and special events manager for Hampton Roads Magazine. "Whenever I am with her I experience this overwhelming sense of peace and I know, in my heart, that this world can't be that bad - not if she's here. Children show us kindness and truth in a way that adults just aren't capable of." "The real thing that they teach us to be honest," says Gary McCollum, vice president and region manager for Cox Hampton Roads. "Kids are not as uptight; they don't worry as much. "The bottom line is they just seem to be more trusting. There's so much mistrust in the world, we could just learn a thing or two from kids; they don't walk around with all that baggage," says McCollum, who has several nieces and nephews and a 24-year-old daughter. "They assume the good in people; so many times we assume the opposite." "Parker's almost 5 months old (will be on 10/22) and so far I've learned that being greeted with a baby's smile when you wake up in the morning can make you forget about being woken up by the same baby throughout the night. Funny how that works," writes 13 News Anchor Sandra Parker. "I've also taken another look at my hands and realized how amazing they really are ... Parker taught me that because I always seem to catch him staring at his, and the best part of my day is when I hear my son let out a belly laugh ... Whenever I'm having a bad day I think about that sound and it immediately puts a smile on my face."

 

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