Kids know “cool”
A good friend of mine once told me, if children think something is “cool,” then it usually is. Since fun is their only agenda, they tend to be honest about whether or not they’re into something. Like, for instance, the 2 Mile Challenge bus.
On Saturday when the 2MC rolled into the Santa Monica area, we had a third grader named Jonathan come through the bus to take the challenge - and who left quite an impression on all of us. (He was easily the smartest person I’ve talked to in years).
He was very excited about the back-lit floor map of Berkeley, the google maps program and the “Take the Challenge” stamps. In fact, he pretty much stamped anything within the range of the tether they were tied to; before long, Jonathan’s brother’s arms, hands and face were covered in colorful ink!
Like many folks in Santa Monica, Jonathan rides his bike for his errands within two miles of his house. Only he’s way beyond his years as a 10-year-old. Amazingly, this habit has been instilled in him from some positive parenting: his mom rides with him to school every day and meets him for a ride home in the afternoon. Talk about cool!
Later that day as we stopped to fill up the bus with Biodiesel, I stepped back into the cabin, looked around and thought, “Man, this thing is cool!” Kids say the darnedest things - and tend to provide more positive perspective than most adults I know. Thanks for that Jonathan!
-Mike