19 Wise Lessons We Learn From The Kids In Our Lives

1. Never wear clothes that match and always try and combine as many random colors and patterns as possible. Your outfit should express how you are feeling that day. Every outfit should be finished off with a tutu and crown of some sort.

2. Let your hair flow naturally. Brushing it and braids or ponytails will only cramp your natural gypsy style of free flowing beauty.

3. Sing. Always have a song to sing and make as many alterations to the pitch and key of it as possible. Keep singing it over and over until you get side tracked with a new task.

4. Try to only eat sugar. If offered a meal of any sort, try and sweet talk your way into turning “said meal” into a more sugary version. Ex). Breakfast = pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles.

5. Dance, constantly. You don’t need music to be playing to be able to be free in your body and move with the “music” in your head. Let your body show you the correct dance moves to use in that moment.

6. Upon waking up at 6AM be sure to try and wake up as many people as possible because it is always more fun when there are more people around. Be sure to never use a quiet voice regardless how early in the morning it is.

7. ALWAYS present yourself as a princess. Long hair is a trait of princess-ism. Your auntie’s makeup bag is a good place to begin expressing yourself. Watch aunties get ready in the morning and ask questions such as, “What is that? What does it do? Why do you put it on?”. Take notes.

8. Hug and kiss everyone you love constantly. Some fun ways of hugging are running as fast as you can from the other side of the room and jumping on ‘insert person you love here’. Kisses can be extremely sloppy and can be held on face for long amount of time as long as you have the “MMMMMMMMMMMMMUAH” sound going.

9. ASK QUESTIONS. Be curious about the world. Ask your elders what things are, why we have them, what do they do! Be curious about why people say certain things. How far Africa is from home? If I stay in the bath long enough will I turn into a mermaid, like for real? When will I be 16? Why do girls have boyfriends when they grow up? Where is heaven? If it’s in the sky then why do we bury people in the ground? Where do birds fly? What is hillarious?

10. Don’t have a filter. Let your ideas flow and your thoughts be expressed. If they don’t make sense, WHO CARES? What is ‘sense’ anyway? Doesn’t matter. Don’t rob yourself by filtering your words. Just let it out as it comes to you.

11. Be afraid of what’s under your bed at night. You seriously never know. It could be a giant monster ready to attack as soon as your mom or dad tucks you into bed. Let your parents know just so they can check it out and make sure the coast is clear. Always keep that princess night light ON.

12. Random sounds. When someone is saying something you don’t care to listen to just begin making very random, almost animal like sounds to drown out their boringness. You don’t have to listen to it.

13. LAUGH as loud and weird as you possibly can. Laugh until you can’t breath and your stomach hurts. Exaggerate your laugh as much as possible because that is very contagious to those around you. It brings joy to everyone in the room.

14. When coloring with others make sure to watch their progress and their color choices closely. They are your competition. Compliment them but make sure to drop in some subtle remarks on their “squiggles”, (mistakes) every now and then.

15. Run as fast as you can. Don’t ever be afraid of getting hurt. Climb as high as you can in the tree. Swing as high as you can in the park. Get on your auntie’s shoulders and then fall backyards just for fun. Don’t even question for a moment that you will get hurt. There will always be someone there to catch you. Live life with no fear. You may fall down once and while, scrape your knee and then scream and cry your face off, but it’s nothing a simple bandaid and a kiss from your parents can’t fix. Proceed to get back up and begin running around, jumping off things and taking risks within minutes.

16. When trying to get something that you want be sure to raise the octave of your voice and make “sad eyes” at whomever you are persuading. For trying to get your auntie to not go back home, say such things as, “Whenever you leave I get this drop of water in my eye and it slowly falls down my face and I feel sad.” or “I always dream of me and you happy together as princesses”

17. Compete with loved ones on who loves who more. “I love you to the moon and back and to Africa and back again.”

18. Make stories up and never stop using your imagination. You can have fun with nothing but a cardboard box. If you know how to use your imagination it could be a giant castle surrounded by a moat and a fire breathing dragon outside.

19. Every day is a special occasion and worth celebrating with cupcakes and sparkling juice in champagne glasses. Cheers with everyone at every meal because, life is good when you are a princess.