Amazing Children

            Every now and then, usually while selling my wares at shows, I encounter children who amaze me with how smart and mature they are for their age. This weekend at ConBravo! I actually met two separate ones, each somewhere between the ages of seven and ten.

            The first came into my booth with one of her friends and they were admiring my various chainmaille products. The friend picked up a bracelet and exclaimed upon the price. This girl turned to her friend and admonished, “Don’t say that; they put a lot of hard work into what they make.” The friend then promptly assured me that she had only been expressing disappointment that she didn’t have enough money for the bracelet.

            This exchange astounded me, because I often get people (adults) who comment on how much various items cost – simply because they don’t understand the difference between something handmade and something mass produced in a factory. Yet, here was a child, obviously quite capable of making that distinction and aware enough to notice it.

            After this, it was incredible to have something similar happen a second time. Another girl, younger than the first, came to my booth, exclaiming on how beautiful everything was. The chainmaille shirt I had on display (it would be a full length dress on her) particularly caught her eye. She said it must have taken a lot of work and asked how much time it had taken and how many rings were in it. Then she started guessing at the price, saying “150, no, 200 dollars!” (obviously a large amount, especially to someone so young.) When I corrected her to $650, she, without hesitation, looked me in the eye and said, “It’s worth it.”

            To come across two children in the same show who are so aware of such things was something I thought impossible. It got me thinking, though, about how adults view children. We tend to assume that since they are smaller and younger than us, they still have a lot to learn. Following that thought, we often underestimate their knowledge and their ability to understand things.

            It makes me wonder how much our society holds children back from their potential. Not all of them, of course – everyone learns at different speeds – but it seems to me we group them into little boxes based on their ages and decide how much they are ready to know. It’s possible that, exposed to more information, they could learn far more. That’s what children are, after all – learning machines. The more information we give them, the more they absorb. Too often, I think, we decide they aren’t ready for things because they’re so young. Yet, there are eight-year-olds out there smarter and more mature than many people who have been deemed “adults”.

            I think it’s time to stop underestimating and talking down to children. If we allow them all the information they want and help them to learn at their own speed (rather than pushing them too hard in directions they aren’t interested or slowing them down because they “aren’t ready”), treating them as equals rather than inferiors, imagine what they could grow up to be.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.