Newborns use their tiny hands to grasp their feet and touch their toes to their nose. They observe us with spongelike minds and emulate our every nuance. As they grow up they gain experience and knowledge, which by adulthood frequently develop into habits and rigid opinions. Although these habitual ways of being, thinking, and doing sometimes make it easier to deal with life’s immediate challenges, their continued use makes us rigid. We lose our objectivity and capacity to change.

All good parents wish happiness, good health, and success for their children. We want them to participate in relationships and endeavors that will allow them to become the best they can be. We wish for them to have true wisdom and compassion and to avoid the mistakes that we have made. We want them to be happy. We tend to forget that children naturally possess a capacity and willingness to accept difference and change that helps them thrive in a rapidly changing mind, body, and environment. Perhaps this is why children are so flexible when they are born. It is only with age that we become rigid.