Sorry, this post is a bit sappy. Normal cynicism will be restored as soon as possible.
One advantage of working close to home is that every now and then Anne or I can take Arthur out for lunch from school. Of course I'd never actually done it before today, but what a laugh it was.
He said he wanted to go to 'the place where they have everything' which stumped me for a bit, until Anne said he meant the food court at the Plaza on Oxford Street. Of course, that's what a food court is, not a dumping ground for every global food franchise, it's the place where they have everything.
Walking along Oxford Street was brilliant too.
He took a leaflet/flyer from every leaflet/flyer person we passed becuase he said how boring it must be standing there, with people not taking your stuff. Which is true. And he made each one of them smile. As an adult you're trained to avoid eye contact, stay in your bubble, ignore the streets incase they're troubling. Not a five year-old. Not Arthur. He walks around with his eyes, head and heart wide open.
Told you it was sappy.
Heh, amazingly both sappy and relevant!
Theres so much to be learnt from the way children look at things. As you say, the idea of not being in a bubble as you walk past street vendors and leafleters is refreshing.
Even in an advertising and marketing context, there is much to be learnt from the idea: Those we think we are supposed to be teaching/informing; why not let them inform us. Instead of telling people what we think will sell to them, we should spend more time learning what they are open to and interested in. (and I dont mean market research as such..!)
Its good having my little brother about, he always provides me with a different less cyncical viewpoint on the world.
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | April 27, 2006 at 08:13 PM
Kids rock but they also pull legs off innocent insects and gang up on each other. The smile thing though is great. Next time you accept change, don't look at the money, smile at the service person from your eyes. Nothing cheesy. Just a small appreciative smile and you get a huge beamer back. Small insight but powerful. Learnt that off kids.
Posted by: Charles | April 30, 2006 at 05:45 AM
Here on the University of Texas at Austin campus with 50,000 students, we have a lot of people handing out flyers for who knows what. And it really does suck to stand there when everyone passes you saying, "no thanks."
Arthur must be very smart for a five year old to be able to empathize with people already!
Posted by: David Wen | May 01, 2006 at 08:44 AM