All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

“Most of what I really need to know about how to live  and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain but there in the sand pile at Sunday school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and

draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,

hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.”

This advise by Robert Fulghum intuitively lays down universal and eternal guiding principles of dignified and harmonious living for all age groups, irrespective of where one lives. Yet, given the pace and pressures of modern life with its academic inflation, many of us have forgotten foundational lessons of life – things we learnt as kids.

Not surprisingly these words come from the same writer also gave us a peek into his philosophical beliefs when he wrote:

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge —

That myth is more potent than history.

I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts —

That hope always triumphs over experience —

That laughter is the only cure for grief.

And I believe that love is stronger than death.”

Robert Fulghum surely had learning outcomes figured out well!!