teaching.

We all know this infamous  George Bernard Shaw quote, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

I don't hate a lot of things, but I strongly dislike this quote. I think it's too broad to be a universal opinion for teachers.

I think many of us can agree that we've had great and not-so fantastic teachers/professors growing up and throughout university.

There are many professions where at a certain age, your body physically cannot take on the demands of your career. As a dancer and morning newshound, people in both my fields have told me they are not sure how many more years their body can take it.

When these people physically can't, many turn to teaching. It's not a downgrade, they are are strong enough to change the course. They can, and will continue, just in a different direction.

children.

I heard a really interesting quote today that got me thinking.

"The creative adult is the child who survived."

Hmm...half of me really believes this. Whenever I'm working with children teaching dance or interacting with new/young parents and their kin, it's amazing to hear what the little ones think.

Their take on the world is fascinating, and what they get out certain things, places and events can be vastly different than adults.

On the other hand, I know many adults who would not necessarily call themselves "creative" but still come up with brilliant ideas.

From their experience, they pull elements from things that worked and present them in a realistic fashion.

Does this mean they are children? Or are we all just children that never really grew up?

I do enjoy (and wholeheartedly agree) with the Kate Spade quote about children:

"Dress up starts at age five and never really stops."

Some little things to ponder.

maturity.

How many times have you heard "kids nowadays...they're growing up to fast." (If I had a nickel for every time...) But I'm here to make a counter-argument.

Mind you, I'm biased, and will admit that up front. Working with kids ages three to 12 full-time in a non-school setting opened a lot of doors to their minds.

Yes kids are more mature than ever nowadays, but they are also sophisicated beyond belief.

This week, I had a camper who was so embarassed over something that she started to cry. Thinking back to my childhood, I was totally in that girls shoes once, and was prepared to step in and tell her that we all have our moments.

What blew me away was that none of my other campers laughed, joked or made fun of their crying peer over her actions.

Instead, not one, not two, but at least half a dozen of the girls all said, "Don't worry, I've done that before, she's so strong to stay at camp and keep her chin up."

In a group of 20 girls, no one mentioned it for the rest of the week.

Yes, we long to be young, stupid and naive at certain moments of life. When my kinder-dance kids pee their pants, I wish that they were older. But now, I see that we're in an exciting time of change in the "modern" childhood.

The grace and maturity that these girls demonstrated to me this week was unparalleled - I know people my age who don't know have any of those social skills.

Driving to work yesterday, a report on CBC Radio caught my ear and I immediately cranked it.

The report was discussing how children are not able to gage risk and danger because parents hold them back from getting hurt. Therefore, the simple method of getting hurt once and remembering that big fall, scrape, etc., (and thus not doing that again) isn't even in the picture.

So how is it that these kids are so mature, yet we're treating them like they have no brains to understand danger?

Hmm.

I'll let that sit. Next week I'm going to watch more of what I'm doing and how this plays out. I have so much hope for this next generation of children. They aren't horrible people, they're just different. And at the end of the day, different isn't good and it isn't bad, it's just different.

milk.

I remember these ads being my absolute favourite all those years ago - we have a Got Milk? pitcher that I totally forgot about at home and I'm using at every moment I can.

Happy Friday the 13th and enjoy your weekend!