Kids are not empty vessels for us to fill with knowledge, information and lots of images. They will not learn; they will absorb, the images, movement and sounds. Interestingly, they are actually very much interested to work. They work for the love of it and the work they choose to perform have direct need for them to grow from within.

The child does not work to earn a living or satisfy an external need. He works on the same task (like washing his hands, going to school) several times over yet shows no trace of exhaustion. On the other hand, he feels even more energised and charged with greater fascination towards his work, and keeps going back to experience work at different angles and greater levels. And never once, does he turn to his parents or adults around him to ask for favours, rewards or compensation for his effort. His motivation is intrinsic. And he is not even being passionate about it, he conducts his exercises in such a way that empowers in him the will to perform it himself.

The child in us, continues to demonstrate the same pattern of behaviour. In learning to play tennis, twittering, swimming etc. Many coaches will tell you that the road to excellence is not experiment but experience and lots of practice, on a single task. In order to love work, we have to enjoy the thought of having to repeat the task or work. This even include, cleaning up after dinner, washing dishes, doing laundry, making beds or having shower. So many of these works we do have been repeated many times to the point that we seek easier and more efficient way of completing them. The dishwasher machines, sewing machines, washing machines, and many other electrical and household appliances are invented as a result of learning repetitive manual work done by people. Repetition wil lead to discovery of new and better ways to do those tasks.

The love for work will also lead to exercise of concentration and a condition called self-discipline. Even without any reward or punishment, a child works on the same task several times over and yet never expect anything more than the satisfaction from having experienced the joy of working. He keeps going back to experience work at different angles and greater levels. The term we often used to describe a task performed that does not require any reward or external compensation such as money or wages, is ‘hobby’ or ‘passion’.

At this point, I would like to take a minute to give tribute to all stay at home parents who have served their families at home without any pay or pension. If it were not for their love of work, the house is not a home. Clothes will not be cleaned and ironed, shoes will not polished and shined, showers will be mouldy and dirty, the fridge will be empty and filled with leftover from takeaway and 3-minute noodles.

Employers also look for people who have great experiences with work in their respective profession. When you enter your particulars on the resume or application form for job, there will be a column where you have to declare the number of years of experience in the line of work you do. When an expert in health and medicine is introduced to the public at a talk show, his years of experience in his field of expertise reflects his knowledge on the subject matter.

If we take the child in us from the cycle of life, then we would fail as humans. It was the child in us, who taught us to walk, talk, run, climb, read, listen, sing, crawl, clap, blink, whistle, blow, lick, eat, suck, smell, touch, scratch, skip, hop, leap, jump, pounce, sit, stand, bend, cuddle, love and hug. Learning to become kids again might seem impossible because we have become adults and our movements are more fluid. Yet we have used such phrases as ‘Stop Kidding’, ‘No Kidding?!’, “Stop being childish?”, “Spoilt brat.”. That is just being ignorant on our part. As people who love to work, we can still learn like a child if we give ourselves the chance. Our workload will be so much lighter and simpler, as we take little steps.