"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,...

...and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."
-excerpt from The Little Prince

Some of you hate them, some of you love them.  Some of you think of them as natural birth control.
Regardless, children are fascinating, and no one can hate too hard, because we were all once children.

The quote from above from The Little Prince (which you should read), is so clever!  I think it embodies so much--namely, the creativity of humans (or lack thereof) and the effects of this world on that creativity.

I'm going to spare you a child psychology lesson about how the brains of children develop and how their understanding of the world is shaped by their parents, blah blah blah.  Instead, I want us to think about the rawness of a child.

I came across an interesting concept several weeks ago, and the idea I can't seem to shake.  It's put the innocence and naiveness of children in a new perspective for me:  Children have a much higher capacity to create than adults.  "What?" you ask.  "How can this be?  Children are so... small... and unlearned."  Correct, but I'm not talking about the knowledge of children, but the capacity to imagine.  We always say "teach children to imagine."  So, as we grow older, our imagination skills that our parents and teachers teach us should be SO GOOD!  On the contrary, dear friends.  As children mature into teens and adults, slowly, but surely, they realize that the world is limited (I know we like to think of the world as infinite, but really, that's just metaphorical language and a playful motivational thought).

The best embodiment of this is people's fear of trying new things.
Where does this fear come from?  Our recognition of limits.  We think "I can't draw well."  "I am not good at this sport."  "I am not smart enough."
I'm not here for a pep talk, but when you were 5, I bet you never thought these things.  (And if you did, you're weird, and subsequently, replace "5" in the previous sentence with smaller numbers until the sentence applies)

For example.  I am flabbergasted by robots (and most technology for that matter).  I have no idea how to make things move with electricity.  Heck.  I still don't really get how batteries work after 6 years of chemistry and physics.  Which is why I'm excited to see kids program robots at the FIRST lego league I'm volunteering at this month. (http://www.utfll.utah.edu/)  Children come up with the most ridiculous ideas.  But what's awesome is that these ridiculous ideas might be so ridiculous that they might work.  Or they might inspire some other idea that works.  They're not scared.  They don't have the same inhibition I do about not knowing enough about about LaPlace transforms.  All they see is "cool, a robot, I'm going to make it move!"  And so... they do!  They make it move (and do so much more)!  As adults, we're limited by our specializations.  Education.  Sports.  Music.  Arts.  Dance.  Writing.  etc. etc. etc.

So, what I'm getting at... is not to be like children.  That's silly.
What I am getting at is to stop thinking you know so much about anything.  That's right.  I'm not going to say that we should all "go out there and try new things."  That's easier said than done.

Instead, try to think of yourself as a person.  Just a person.  Not a musician or an academic or an athlete.  Think of yourself as a person with interests.  This will not only humble you, but it will take away fear you have of imagining new possibilities.

for those of you who are visual:

__________     foreign thing too scared to try             interest    interest
| specialist  |                                                     _|____|_
| specialist  |      ----------->>>>>>>>>>            | person  |---interest
|_________|                                                    |_______|---interest
                                                                           |        |
         foreign thing too scared to try                   interest   interest



Final thought: 

"The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise."
-Alden Nowlan