Where are we going?

Recently my daughter (she's 4) has been paying attention to the compass on the rear-view mirror in the car. She's always watching it and blurting out "Now we're going North" when the "N" appears. Tonight on our way home from dinner she hadn't mentioned it yet. So I asked her, "Which direction are we going now, babe?" She simply replied, "Forward."

I was struck by this. It was funny as hell for a bit. My wife and I laughed quietly. After a bit though, I really thought about what she said. In a word she provided some sort of innocent reassurance that we are indeed moving forward, both physically and figuratively. She did nothing but provide the simplest possible answer. There was no deeper meaning intended when the word left her lips.

We are all so far beyond such an elementary answer that her perspective is refreshing to hear. I may have eventually come up with the same with some further questioning, I'm sure.

We're headed home.
"N" - we're going North.
We're going forward.

All the details and my ability to maturely analyze situations just flat would have gotten in the way before I ultimately came up with her reply. Yet, it took her little more than a second to utter that simple truth. "Forward."

Kids do indeed say the darndest things. There's always truth in those statements. There are so many things we need to teach children about the world. It's a constant process to equip them with the best possible information to keep them safe as well as foster their inherent curiosity about the world. I want her to see things sometimes as I see them in order to adequately appreciate what she's experiencing. But that education takes a back seat at times. The teacher then becomes the student. She teaches me to appreciate her ability to see things as she sees them, usually on the simplest possible level. And that is something that can keep us all going forward.