Teach or be taught?

I have been boasting around saying I am enjoying fatherhood. We are teaching her stuffs. It’s our responsibility to teach her all the things. In fact every parent will be proud, if not boasting, about this. I started realizing only recently that my kid, who is less than 2 years old, teaches me more stuff than I teach her. I am still finding that out occasionally whenever I pay more attention to her actions. Let me start with a few and then I will keep posting if & as I find new things.

How many of us really laugh when we laugh and really cry when you cry, every time? Imagine this.  Someone made you angry.  You are keeping a stiff face to him/her.  Suddenly they make a comment or do something which really makes you happy or will make you laugh out loud. But will you laugh? Nope. We will still be holding the grudge and show keep a stern face. Look at a small kid. It cries for whatever reason. And suddenly you do something and the kid starts laughing hysterically. (oh, how I love it when Malu starts laughing suddenly even though she was  crying a second ago. That transition is fast but beautiful). The point I am trying to make here is that kids are being honest with their feelings. Whatever they feel like doing, they do it completely with full heart.  The same applies to eating and sleeping as well.  We teach them to successfully underplay, mask, or even suppress their real feelings and then take pride in it.

One more incident: We bought a new dress for Malu and my wife helped her wear the dress. She was all happy and excited about the new dress that she is wearing. No sooner a guest arrived that she started telling him in her own language about her new dress. This is not surprising.  But what was interesting was that she started telling him that I got her the new dress and her mom helped her in wearing this. She acknowledged us. It reminded me of another occasion when we bought her a small watch. She was flaunting the watch to everybody that day without forgetting to acknowledge me (who got her the watch) and seller (the uncle who gave her the watch).  Got the lesson? Yes, right: Acknowledge others who helped you even in tiny bits.

Looking forward for more lessons/wonderful experiences.