Risk Takers

My seven year old daughter, Nava, just asked if she could sit down at my computer and write an article. I figured it would keep her entertained and she was old enough not to break anything so I agreed. (Not to mention, what greater thrill than to have my daughter want to write an article!) Before leaving the house to run a few errands, I pointed out the space bar, and then went on my way.

To my utter surprise, I returned to find a short piece of prose that she had written all on her own. And just in case that wasn’t impressive enough, she figured out where the period mark is, which is not so obvious I noticed upon looking, how to capitalize (and no, it didn’t do it automatically for her) and a few other things. And to top it off, there was a box around all the text and the entire thing was colored in lavender.

OK, now I think I am pretty bucky at computers, and yet I don’t know how to make a box around my text. I could probably learn how to fairly easily, but never have. When I wondrously asked how in the world she figured it out she simply replied, “I looked at the pictures and the words and tried it until it worked.”

In this same vein, my four and five year olds who can’t yet read have mastered how the DVD player works and use the mouse to stop, play, pause all by having watched me do it over and over again. And even my two year old thinks she knows how to use the computer. Unfortunately, she doesn’t understand that computers are delicate creatures, and to her credit, has successfully managed to unhook a CD player in a way I didn’t know was possible.

Just in case you are wondering why I am sharing all this, there is a good reason. And no, it is not to merely show off how brilliant and technologically advanced my children are (though, in case it isn’t clear, I do think that as well!) Rather, the point of my writing this is to share the lesson I have learned through these incidents.

How many adults are so able or willing to learn and experiment like this? I for one have major fears associated with learning new things. I am worried I will lose my data, erase a document, do something which cannot be undone. And I have reason to fear. I have done all the above, and worse. Even as the editor of this site I have limited permissions. Which is a good thing as I wouldn’t want to hit the wrong button and erase everything!

But children remind us that the only way to learn and grow is to take risks. And the risks can have consequences, for with every attempt you could either succeed or fail. But even the failure isn’t true failure when you learn a lesson from it. After all, if you want to jump, you first must bend your knees. This is the concept in Chassidic philosophy of a yeridah tzorech aliyah, a descent for the sake of an ascent. I wonder how much more I could know, how much more I could do if I would take the time, effort and risk to try and figure it out.

Funny enough, when I started typing this piece with my seven year old next to me, she said quite frustrated, “Mommy, it isn’t fair, it took you seven seconds to type that, and it took me twenty minutes.” It is true. I type much faster. I can write much more. But then again, she is willing to learn and do things that I assume I will never be able to understand. She doesn’t have the fear of failure. She doesn’t even know what failure is. To her, some things work, some don’t, but eventually you will figure it out.

I love that attitude. I wish I had it. And actually, I better get it. Because at this rate, if I want to stay a few steps ahead I already have a lot of catching up to do. Fortunately, at least for now, she is impressed with how fast I type. And a few other things as well. But little does she know that every day I am learning as much, if not more, from her than she may even be from me.

Postscript: Nava turned eight last week. For her birthday gift, her grandfather gave her his old laptop! Now I am really in trouble...