What if we kept a childlike curiosity?

It’s funny what knowledge clicks with us and what doesn’t.

While some bits and pieces just seem like second nature, others can always feel just out of outreach.

For my middle nephew Caydyn, it was the “you must have grown another foot” from his grandmother that he could never quite grasp a few years ago. He could easily navigate her smartphone home screen as a toddler, but didn’t understand why she kept saying that and laughing at his confusion. After all, then about 5, he proved to her with a big smile by leaning back in his chair and waving his only two feet in close to her face, that there clearly wasn’t a third.

For my youngest nephew Liam, 3, it’s hide and go seek. The photo I got a couple weeks ago was of him standing quietly behind the living room curtain waiting for his dad to find him. The curtain covered him head to shoulders, so you just saw a dinosaur shirt and pair of jean-covered legs sticking out from behind.

He was completely covered by his hiding spot in the most recent photo — with a clear plastic tote sitting in the middle of the living room.

He can write his name and count numbers all day, but seen and unseen are nuances we’ll probably still be laughing about when he’s an adult.

Just like when my brother, now 36, who was around that age when he managed to put a mostly empty butter bowl on his head the day of school photos. My mother still teases him about how he flattened all of those beautiful curls right before his photo.

All of which makes me wonder why learning becomes such a chore as we get older and can make some of us a touch grumpy.

What if there were a way to hold onto that enthusiasm for the new and an ability to laugh off our falters and occasional failures? And what if when those around us slipped or struggled, we extended the same grace to them?

It’s funny how much of the important stuff you can still learn from watching children explore the world for the first time, no matter how old you get.

Donna Farley is the editor of the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at dfarley.dar@gmail.com. And for photos of the precocious little hide and seeker, visit our website at www.darnews.com/blogs/farley.