Learning to crawl

This weekend the baby in our house managed to figure out the mysteries of crawling. Can’t say that it has been easy. On the contrary, and there is still some way to go before the technique is perfected. At the moment it is mostly one move forwards and a couple backwards, but...

            For the parents this means that we need to pay unexpected attention. The little person no longer stays where you put her down, and she is suddenly able to reach all sorts of unsuitable things. As soon as you turn your back on her. Put her down on a blanket outside and before you know it she is off the reservation... Eating grass. Good for the digestive system, I’m sure.

            Watching the stubborn repetition is both entertaining and frustrating. The little crawler may get frustrated but at the same time she is absolutely determined to get there. And eventually she does.

            Tells you quite a lot about the importance of persistence.

            You also find out a few things about learning. As humans, we learn partly by repetition and partly by making mistakes. Mistakes teach us how not to do things, sometimes in a very painful way. This is important. Repetition leads to perfection in whatever the pursuit may be.

            For small children this comes natural. The older you get, the harder it becomes to pick up new skills. There are many reasons for this. One may be lack of patience. While a crawling baby keeps getting up after falling over hundreds of times in a row, a grown-up often gives up after the first few attempts. Usually with some feeble excuse like “no more time for this nonsense, more important things to do...”

            Is this the way of the world, or is there something you can do about it? Is there some way that a grown-up can emulate the child? Not by throwing tantrums, but by sticking at tasks that seem impossible until they are mastered.

            What is the key to this?

            Now that I think about it, I recognize that the answer could have to do with stupidity. Not being stupid, but rather not being afraid to look stupid. This never bothered any baby, but it holds back most adults.

            If you want to make progress on something challenging, where mistakes are inevitable, then you must allow yourself to look, and likely feel, stupid.

            You also need to be modest enough to ask for help when you need it. I know that the next step (no pun intended) for our baby will be walking. This will involve the poor parents breaking their backs by propping up a staggering pre-toddler for hours on end. We will look stupid, but see if the baby cares. She’s got walking to master, so can’t be bothered about how we feel about it.             

            As a grown-up there are situations where you need similar support. This is true even for the best of us. In the world of science you see it all the time. Famously, Einstein needed someone to tell him about tensor calculus when he was trying to figure out his new theory of gravity. The trick is to find someone that is able to help, but also to be modest enough to accept that help is needed in the first place. And not be afraid to look stupid...

            So there we are.

            The road to success passes through both repetition and stupidity.

            At least that’s what I keep telling myself...