5 Lessons from Children's Author Mo Willems That Will Make You a Better Adult
It’s me again, your friendly neighborhood preschool teacher! We are a few months into the new school year, with a brand new assortment of little people and all the new lessons they must learn. Like using a Kleenex, standing in line, and yes actually I promise you CAN wipe your own bottom. I’m here, though, I’m alive...and I am hanging onto that thread of sanity. Still. Somehow.
You know how it is, you laugh or you cry...or you get weirdly poignant thoughts about things that may or may not be all that deep. I think thus far this year, I’ve done all three while hiding briefly in my school’s storage room shoving a secret candy bar in my face. Our bookshelves are in there, and while I’m intimately acquainted with the titles, there’s nothing like hidden sugar transgressions to get one really reflecting on their favorites.
Readers, I put it to you that children’s books are NOT JUST FOR KIDS. In fact, I sometimes feel the lessons within them, geared towards youth, are wasted on the young. Take one of my all-time storytime favorites, Mister Mo Willems. He was just not a thing in my picture book days, but I adore him now. If you ask me, his simple and poignant lessons rank up there with Eric Carle and even the great Doctor Seuss.
I could easily go on about how much I love Mo Willems, with or without the assistance of a glass of wine...but that’s not why you’re here. So ONWARD to the point!
Beware, there’s storyline spoilers here. But you should read all of the Piggie and Gerald books anyway cuz it’ll take you like thirty minutes.
1. Patience is hard, and it’s okay to say that.
Do you remember how excited you got for holidays when we were small? Food, family, games, and maybe even preeeeeeseeeents?? How you would ask every single day how close it was, and how annoyed your parents were?
No you probably don’t, but you might have a child of your own who annoys you that badly now!
But think about it for a sec, the unknown can be super exciting! And why would we want to wait? It could be an amazing thing, and now that you are aware of it, why can’t we have it now?!
We forget how hard it is to wait because the older we get, the more we are taught to suppress those feelings. To hide them. To be normal and disinterested like the rest of the world, I guess. But waiting for the things that excite us IS hard, and you know what? It’s okay to admit that!
The wait is hard. But whatever in your near future excites you will be worth that wait. Or at least I hope so!
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2. You can’t dance? Are you sure? Have you TRIED?
When you’re young, new things can be scary. The unknown is a frightening place, and we all have experienced trepidation at trying something new. As adults, new things aren’t better. Matter of fact...I think they’re worse.
Many of us have spent a lot of time since our school days being told what we can’t do. Sometimes it’s a doctor’s warning. Sooner or later we all have to face the facts that our bodies can have limits, though, and sometimes that’s a harsher reality brought on by injury or illness.
Taking the literal sense of this lesson aside, we’ve all been met with limitations in our lives. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to TRY.
Put yourself out there. Take that class. Go on that date. Check out that hobby club. Write the thing!
Maybe you’ll hate it and it won’t be a great thing. But what if...wait for it..you LOVE it?
3. Sometimes the best fun isn’t what you planned.
Okay, so it’s a cliche and we hate those...but it’s so true: life is what happens when we make other plans. Playdates get rained out, your best friend can’t make the parent group meeting, your family vacation got totally relocated. You can’t go for a drive without the essentials...like a car!
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Try out that trampoline park. Explore a new city with your crew. Break out of that comfort zone. Instead of spending precious time being bummed (or pissed, in my case) about what wasn’t, maybe we can try something new! Who are these other parents in this parenting group, anyway? Because you might need to know...
4. It’s okay to make new friends.
“I can’t go out, it’s too peopley.” I know it, it’s intimidating. We tell our kids it’s important to have social interaction and we enroll them in schools and activities to assure they have social skills. Healthy and mindful peer interaction is a central pillar of my curriculum! But as we get older, we do less and less of this ourselves.
We need it too. It’s healthy. It’s community building. We are communal animals. Not all at the same level and that’s okay. But if we don’t put ourselves out there, we might not find the people that make the world’s peopley-ness less daunting. Our people.
Respect your own boundaries of comfortable social interaction, maybe just a bit at a time. Your new friend could be waiting.
5. Say THANK YOU a lot. To lots of people. It’s never too late.
Nothing makes my week, my month, MY YEAR, quite like being thanked. It means the world to be appreciated. I remember those moments and store them away for future use, like little thermoses on dry days. And if it means so much to me, I’m sure I’m not alone.
Thank that teacher that meant so much to your high school survival. Thank your neighbor for helping you track down your dog. Thank your spouse for folding the laundry mountain you were deliberately ignoring.
Little things, even! They add up. Thank your barista, your grocery bagger, that friend that made you laugh last week, that acquaintance who complimented your baby’s picture. Say thank you, and MEAN it! It feels so good to be genuine in gratitude.
It’s true, our brains get less pliable as we age, and it’s tougher to take to new lessons as we get older. But these things are pretty simple ways to grow, if we let them be. And our kids are watching. Let’s learn from their favorite stories together.
