By Katie Burrell

Lessons learned from a three year old 

Be kind. Back when I was teaching we had a new little boy come to try the class one week – he’d never been left by his parents before. He was so excited. It was a while before it dawned on him that his Mum wouldn’t be back for a bit. Cue an eruption of salty tears and snot. Straight off the bat a little girl went over and put her arm around him. She didn’t say anything. I watched this little exchange unfold. She was affected by the new boy getting upset and felt compelled to show empathy towards him. No words needed, just a simple gesture. This reminded me that a generous hug or just the act of listening to a person can be a powerful thing. 

Have fun. One afternoon we were starting the class by singing our ‘Welcome Song’ and turning on our ‘listening ears.’ We then went round the circle each suggesting ideas of things that we could pretend to be together. Someone suggested a unicorn with rainbow hair and sparkles. Another offering was a dairy cow that kept pooing everywhere. Excellent. Every child joined in with everybody’s ideas and had a great time. How amazing to be imaginative, to let go without fear and to be fully absorbed in having fun! I used to relish these classes. An hour dedicated to running about, pretending to go on magical adventures to wonderful places and creating amazing worlds together. Anything was possible. 

Question things. Children love to ask why. Teaching a bunch of three year olds is knowing that they will want to know everything about anything. Constant questioning. ‘Why’ is their favourite word. When we reach adulthood we can become a bit preoccupied with external pressures, money worries, stress at work, stuff that gets in the way of us wanting to expand our knowledge and discover new 

things. I’m confident that SCA will help to break this pattern. Reflecting for a moment on my lovely classmates, I hope that we’re going to be able to pour all of our interests into one big pool of knowledge and soak up all the good stuff – broadening our horizons. 

Be curious. Children aren’t taught how to be curious. We are born with an innate curiosity – a drive to understand how the world works. Children are motivated by seeking out new experiences to explore. Nurturing that curiosity is so important. We should tap into this inquisitiveness as adults and see where it leads us creatively. 

I’ve been thinking about how children truly live their lives in the present. They’re such great examples of being in the moment – something we’ve all been discussing a lot recently. We can learn a lot from children. I just wanted to put a few of my thoughts down as I think these ideas could help us in our quest for creativity! Let’s all tap into our inner child from time to time and see what happens.