986 – Foster curiosity.
Though questions and exploration. Through books and conversation. Teaching out children to ask questions and explore will be essential to their growth as a person. To do this properly, we need to shut-up. We need to listen. We need to allow space, time and silence to let their brains work, process and enjoy.
You will be teaching your children the answers don’t come quickly. To take a moment to think through a problem for the solution. We are teaching them opinions and thoughts matter. Prompt. Don’t answer. Pause. Don’t fill the silence. Take time. Don’t rush.
There are no rules, timelines, structure or answer(s) for curiosity. Each moment is a caterpillar in metamorphosis. A butterfly waiting to emerge from its chrysalis. You can foster the process, or wreck it.
Curiosity is problem solving. It’s asking questions. It’s an exploration of the world. Don’t interrupt. Don’t mock. Shoot down. Or otherwise negate their process, whatever it is, to show us, to tell us, to explain to us, how they are viewing whatever it is they are choosing to focus their attention on. Just foster it. Encourage it. And wonder at what comes from it. In the process, learn from it. Allow yourself to become the butterfly.
A Better Father 