A few years ago when I was teaching swim lessons, I ran into a rather unusual challenge with one of the swimmers.

Typically, I had a hard time getting kids to put their faces in the water. We’re humans — we don’t have gills — it makes sense. But putting your face in is a very important part of learning to swim and being comfortable in the water.

This particular kid, however, wouldn’t stay above water. He had conquered the fear of water, which was great for a 4-year-old, but it’s hard to hear your instructor giving you tips on technique if you’re head is always beneath the surface.

All session I tried to find different ways to ask him to keep his head above the surface while I was talking to the class. Some of the approaches worked for a little while, but none of them that well. Finally in one of the last weeks of lessons, I just outright asked him why he didn’t keep his head above the water. His answer was hilarious.

In a very matter of fact way, he told me dinosaurs were underwater and that’s why he liked being under there. I didn’t have time to laugh and instead replied in my own matter of fact way that pterodactyls fly so if he ever wanted to see one he’d have to keep his head above the water sometimes, too.

That did the trick.

I told a couple of people that story last week. It always gets a good laugh. But to me it’s more than just a good laugh. It’s a reminder to listen to kids.

Of course, dinosaurs don’t live under water. Science isn’t my thing, but I know at least that much. The point is, adults often assume they know why kids are behaving in certain ways.

As we get older and wiser, we sometimes forget people younger than us don’t think in the same way. We often assume the younger someone is, the less they know about the world while at the same time assuming they should know better about how to act.

That 4-year-old boy taught me otherwise. His knowledge of the world wasn’t better or worse than mine — it was just different than mine. Often we approach problems from our own world, but what if we all approached problems by stepping into someone else’s shoes and seeing the world from their perspective?

I have a feeling we’d get a lot more accomplished. And we might learn something, too.

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‘The future is bright’ is a bi-monthly column

from T-R News Editor Emily Barske

focusing on young people, innovation

and civil discourse.

Have a suggested topic or feedback?

Contact her at ebarske@timesrepublican.com