As a new parent, there’s so much talk about how to most effectively teach children. But we don’t talk enough about how much we need to learn from babies:
- They are learning machines through curiosity and play – they learn to walk and talk with no guidebooks! But we quickly sit them at desks and tell them to quiet down and follow the rules at school.
- They are movement machines and love to be outside, but we keep them inside and incentivize them to be sedentary.
- They are predisposed to natural food and can regulate their appetite. Still, we follow guidance to give them processed, nutrient-deprived food that damages their cells starting at six months. We feed their cells with drugs.
- They, quite literally, see their mother as a god-like figure. But we systematically delegitimize motherhood as a society.
- They are born with awe and love for the world, but we almost immediately thrust the psychosis of adults on them.
Children are truly the fathers of adults – there is nothing more to society than ensuring their natural inclinations thrive. The foundation of public policy in this country should be how we can learn from kids and incentivize their natural inclinations to eat healthy, sleep, move, and manage their stress. Instead, we almost systematically do the opposite.
This insight is not new. I was moved by this poem from 1803, which begs the question of when society robs our awe of simple things like rainbows. The future of our society can be predicted by what is currently happening to our kids’ brains. And we need a course correction.
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Calley Means 