What adults can learn from kids Adora Svitak

[Music]

[Applause]

now I wanted to start with the question

when was the last time you were called

childish for kids like me being called

childish can be a frequent occurrence

every time we make irrational demands

exhibit irresponsible behavior or

display any other signs of being normal

American citizens we are called childish

which really bothers me after all take a

look at these events imperialism and

colonization world wars george w bush

ask yourself who’s responsible adults

now what have kids done bull and Frank

touched millions with her powerful

account of the Holocaust ruby bridges

helped to end segregation in the United

States and most recently Charlie Simpson

helped to raise one hundred and twenty

thousand pounds for Haiti on his little

bike so as you can see evidence by such

examples age has absolutely nothing to

do with it the traits the word childish

addresses are seen so often in adults

that we should abolish this age

discriminatory word when it comes to

criticizing behavior associated with

irresponsibility and irrational thinking

thank you then again who’s to say that

certain types of irrational thinking

aren’t exactly what the world needs

maybe you’ve had grand plans before but

stopped yourself thinking the that’s

impossible or that costs too much or

that won’t benefit me for better or

worse sweet kids aren’t hampered as much

when it comes to thing about reasons why

not to do things kids can be full of

inspiring aspirations and hopeful

thinking like my wish that no one went

hungry or that everything were free kind

of utopia how many of you still dream

like that and believe in the

possibilities sometimes a knowledge of

history and the past failures of utopian

ideals can be a burden because you know

that if everything were free then the

food stocks would become depleted and

scarce and leaped chaos on the other

hand we kids still dream about

perfection and that’s a good thing

because in order to make anything a

reality you have to dream about it first

in many ways our audacity to imagine

helps push the boundaries of possibility

for instance the Museum of Glass in

Tacoma Washington my home state yoo-hoo

Washington has a program called kids

design glass and kids draw their own

ideas for glass art now the resident

artist said that they got some of their

best ideas from the program because kids

don’t think about the limitations of how

hard it can be to blow glass and the

certain shapes they just think of good

ideas now when you think of glass you

might think of colorful shmuly designs

or maybe Italian vases but kids

challenge glass ours to go beyond that

into the realm of broken-hearted snakes

and bacon boys who you can see as meat

vision now our inherent wisdom doesn’t

have to be insiders knowledge kids

already do a lot of learning from adults

and we have a lot to share I think that

adults should start learning from kids

now I do most of my speaking in front of

an education crowd teachers and students

and I like this analogy it shouldn’t

just be a teacher at the head of the

classroom telling students to do this do

that the students should teach their

teachers learning between grownups and

kids

should be reciprocal the reality

unfortunately is a little different and

it has a lot to do with trust or a lack

of it now if you don’t trust someone you

place restrictions on them right if I

doubt my older sister’s ability to pay

back the 10% interest she established on

her last loan I’m going to withhold her

ability to get more money from me until

she pays it back true story by the way

now adults seem to have adults seem to

have a prevalently restrictive attitude

towards kids from every don’t do that

don’t do this in the school handbook to

restrictions on school internet use as

history points out regimes become

pressive when they’re fearful about

keeping control and although adults may

not be quite at the level of

totalitarian regimes kids have no or

very little saying making the rules when

really the attitude should be reciprocal

meaning that the adult population should

learn and take into account the wishes

of the younger population now it’s kind

of worse and restriction is the adults

often underestimate kids abilities we

love challenges but when expectations

are low trust me we will sing to them my

own parents had anything but low

expectations for me and my sister okay

so they didn’t tell us to become doctors

or lawyers or anything like that

but my dad did read to us about

Aristotle and pioneer germ fighters when

lots of other kids were hearing the

wheels on the bus go round and round

well we heard that one too but pioneer

germ Fighters totally rules I love to

write from the age of four and when I

was six my mom bought me my own laptop

equipped with Microsoft Word thank you

Bill Gates and thank you mom I wrote

over 300 short stories on that little

laptop and I wanted to get published

instead of just scoffing at this heresy

that kid when to get published or saying

wait until you’re older my parents were

really supportive many publishers were

not quite so encouraging one large

children’s publisher ironically saying

they didn’t work with children might

want to children’s publisher not work

with children I don’t know you kind of

alienating large

there now one publisher action

publishing was willing to take that leap

and trust me and to listen to what I had

to say they published my first book

flying fingers you see it here and from

there on it’s gone speaking at hundreds

of schools keynote and the thousands of

educators and finally today speaking to

you I appreciate your attention today

because to show that you truly care you

listen but there’s a problem with this

rosy picture of kids being so much

better than adults kids grow up and

become adults just like you or just like

you really the goal is not to turn kids

into your kind of adult but rather

better adults than you have been which

may be a little challenge and consider

your guys credentials but the way

progress happens is because new

generations and new eras grow and

develop and become better than the

previous ones it’s the reason we’re not

in the Dark Ages anymore no matter your

position or place in life it is

imperative to create opportunities for

children so that we can grow up to blow

you away

adults and fellow tedsters you need to

listen and learn from kids and trust us

and expect more from us

you must lend an ear today because we

are the leaders of tomorrow which means

we’re gonna be taking care of you and

your old and son Isle no just kidding

actually um no really we are going to be

the next generation the one who will

bring this world forward and in case you

don’t think that this really has meaning

for you remember that cloning is

possible and that involves going to

childhood again in which case you’ll

want to be heard just like my generation

now the world needs opportunities for

new leaders and new ideas kids need

opportunities to lead and succeed are

you ready to make the match because the

world’s problems shouldn’t be the human

family’s heirloom thank you

you