The curious kid..

We had relatives at our place a few days back. They are fun when they bring small kids along with them. By small i mean really small; when they do only what they want to and not what they are supposed to.
There were two here, and the smaller of the two ( probably an year old) was a real curious one. Ah! That look on his face as he crawled. He picked up small things at will, examined them and then threw them away. Even the act of throwing it away was an issue of curiousity for him. Something like.."I did something to that thing!!"
His parents though, especially his mom, didnt find this as beautiful as i am makingit out to be. She took him onto her shoulder and made him sit on the sofa. "Behave!" Poor kid. I didnt think his behavior was indecent, everything that he threw would not break, it was pure, harmless child's play.

I believe kids should not be turned into adults superfast. Its nice to see a baby getting excited at seeing a flowered t-shirt, also to see a kid playing with a book upside down, not realizing that its meant to be 'read'; as it is to see a child asking his dad "Why do you wear glasses" (and getting his question answered appropriately).
Curiousity, in children must be encouraged in the primitive years. If honed in the correct way, it graduates to become positive inquisitive-ness later. Asking questions to others and to ourselves is the most efficient way of learning about things and people around us which does not necessarily mean the physics, chemistry or biology of things.
"Don't do it. You are a big boy now" is the worst sentence ever framed. If you have scrolled down directly, read the above article for getting the context :).