If we want to create passionate, lifelong learners...

As a teacher of piano and guitar, I taught many lessons to many children whose parents took a deep interest in when they practiced, how much they practiced, and the degree to which they practiced.

All the while, these parents never touched an instrument themselves. This seemed so odd to me, having grown up with parents who were enthusiastic amateur musicians despite the complexity of life with four kids.

If you give it some thought, you will find similar peculiarities of childhood: Children are encouraged to draw and make art when no one around them but their art teacher is doing so. Teens are asked to learn complex abstract math concepts, of which the adults around them blithely profess ignorance. “Ha! I haven’t even thought about quadratic equations for thirty years! Good luck!” And they are coached in sports by former athletes who are now quite a bit softer than they used to be.

Young people are told they can be anything they want to be and exhorted to strive to achieve their dreams, but when the people around them are living mundane existences that leave little room for thinking big, what message are we actually sending?

If we want to create passionate, lifelong learners, the best way is to be passionate, lifelong learners ourselves.

As adults, we can live our entire lives without ever facing the challenge of learning something new or confronting a different worldview the way we were constantly asked to do as children. We have the power to insulate ourselves from that. While that makes for a convenient and easy life, it is not the rich, fulfilling life we want to offer to the next generation. The last thing we want to do is say, "Do as I say and not as I do."

So let's encourage kids to learn new skills and create new things by showing them that that is what we are doing in our lives, too. Let's purposely put ourselves in situations where the children close to us see us experiencing a little discomfort or disruption of our status quo, whether that's by trying a new food, traveling, taking a class, pursuing a new hobby, or reading a book that challenges us.

Let's show kids that we can be leaders, too, and make sure that they don't take for granted that we have always had the skills we have. Let’s make sure that we’re building new ones and that they are bearing witness to that.

if we ourselves are stuck and resentful, we aren't going to be successful in telling kids that they can create an inspiring life that they can be proud of. It is far more powerful to convey this idea to kids by example — and in the process, we are giving ourselves an opportunity for transformation and renewal that will make us more fulfilled and joyful.