Watching kids learn is so insightful. My four-year-old has picked up a longboard (my longboard, or something formerly known as mine). The way she tries to ride is so interesting. There is absolutely no stress about mastering the skill. She looks at what I do, she listens to my advice — sometimes she follows it, sometimes she doesn’t.

There’s absolutely no pressure. She holds my hand — one foot on the board, the other one pushing. She then steps with the second foot, and waits for the board to stop. She tries to do the same by herself a few times, succeeds. Then goes back to holding my hand. Then, after a bit, she sits on the board and pushes with both feet. Or she runs around, carrying the board, “looking for a place to start”. Then she tries again.

My instructions are often redundant, because what I have in mind is very different from what she’s doing. While I’m thinking in terms of “how do I learn this”, along with “how do I get past the embarrassment of not being able to do this well”, she is playing. She is not concerned with the looks, or with the mastery. She is simply having fun.

And I bet, with an approach like that, kids learn better than adults.