Children ‘Get’ Sex, Money, And Fame Better Than You Do

Children are smarter about sex, money, and fame than you.

They are. They really are.

Well, maybe not you personally, but the chances are high, because kids understand these hot topics better than most adults.

How can we tell? The same way we can tell that anyone understands a subject, or at least understands what they do and don’t know — kids are comfortable talking about these things.

Children are very comfortable asking and thinking and talking about any subject.

They don’t become nervous, they don’t start tailoring their words in odd ways and euphemisms to please the people around them. They’re straight-shooters.

They don’t do everything they can to avoid engaging a topic.

They follow their natural impulses, pursue their natural curiosity, and they aren’t held back by a million socially trained fears.

Here’s a video from a very reputable source: TEDTalks. Comedian Julia Sweeney tells us her hilarious story about trying to have "the talk" with her 8 year old.

Yes, it’s funny, but there’s more to it.

It’s a very clear story of two people, one is extremely comfortable with her own curiosity and subject matter, and the other one is caught off-guard, and is far less comfortable.

There’s many strong and controversial opinions on how "we" as a society "should handle" this topic (sex, and others) with our children, and I’m not here to tell you how to do it.

I will say that anything you want to teach to or engage others on is hugely helped by comfort.

Kids are comfortable with themselves, their growth, and wherever their questions and curiosity in life take them.

Children are smarter because they are comfortable and open and always learning. They are smarter because they have no neuroses or social fears stopping them from following their curiosity and their experimentation.

Adults? Not so much.

This goes for money and fame and health as well.

Oh my goodness — the discomfort and debates about nutrition or <gasp!> the economy? How about the gossip about how famous people use their money? Do our adults seem ‘comfortable’ and ‘curious’ about things, looking to grow? Do we see warm, loving, innocent curious talks between adults, looking to expand and reach solutions? Or do we see rigid, opinionated, borderline aggressive arguments between grown-ups who’ve clearly already almost-permanently made up their minds?

Now, will children remain this open, comfortable, and understanding of these topics?

Probably not.

The powerful, strongly opinionated grown-ups will eventually influence the child more towards adult-attitudes and inflexibility.

But if a grown-up was able to consistently demonstrate, true, honest, equal, person-to-person comfort with the child on these important issues, that child would NOT lose their own comfort, curiosity, and understanding… at least not nearly as much.

Is this doable? I’ll admit I’m curious about it, and comfortable to look into it, but I admit that I don’t know

Either way, it’s food for thought.

So it mostly looks like this:

• Child = comfortable, open-minded, issue-less.
• Adult = uncomfortable, inflexible, and generally neurotic.

And Interestingly, there’s another group of people who are also quite comfortable with these topics. Celebrities!

…but that’s a story for another time.

A special thank you to Denise of MadeByDenise.net. She really knows how to ‘nurture creativity,’ and this post was inspired by her Monthly Writing Prompts.