We've had an eventful last few days around here. Chloe rode her first roller-coaster, she can now swim on her back, and she learned how to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels.

Watching your child learn a new skill is one of the joys of being a parent. And being a parent of a four-year old can be pretty exciting... there's always something new to try and conquer around the corner and four-year olds are far braver than their wee size implies.

It got me to thinking about learning. When did we stop trying to learn new things? Its easy to just "be" as an adult - visit the same places, eat the same food, hang out with the same people you always have. You don't have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations if you don't want to. But children leap head long into learning. They constantly ask questions and poke and prod to figure things out. From the smallest ant to the batteries in the remote control, everything is worthy of inspection and understanding.


I was inspired by Chloe to try something I haven't done in a while - painting. She had her tempera paints out and rather than discard the leftover, I decided to pick up my paintbrush and a nearby pizza box and spend a few minutes mindlessly painting.

That's my work on the right and Chloe's on the left. Even my attempt at being carefree looks stifled and controlled when compared to her free-flowing art. Children have that great ability to just 'do' without thinking too much about it. I think I'll have to do more experiments like this, and just try and do for the sake of it.

When was the last time you learned something new?