It's TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. You've probably heard a lot about what we can learn from children. Shoot, there are at least a few TED talks about it. But in today's talk, Yeyun Kim, a former kindergarten teacher, zeroes in on one thing that five-year-olds do better than us grown-ups.

They ask for help. She explains in her 2020 talk from TED at PMI, why asking for help is such a

powerful and courageous thing to do. What can we learn from children about being better humans? They're fiercely loyal to their friends, fast to defend, quick to apologize, and swift to forget.

But as a past kindergarten teacher, always a kindergarten teacher at heart,

I want to share with you a surprising lesson I learned from them about being asked for help.

I love human behaviors, how we act differently in different

situations and environments. And these cute five-year-olds, with their adorable cheeks and the

perfect height to give warm morning hugs to, and almost a competitive love for high fives, were so

interesting. My first class was called the Mars class. I had 10 students and each were so full of character.

But there's this one kid I'll never forget. Let's call him Sam. Sam behaved like he forgot he was

only five. He was so independent. Not only did he know how to tie his own shoelaces, but he knew how to

tie other kids' shoelaces

too. He also never took home a dirty thermos because he would clean it after his lunch.

And if something happened and he needed a change of clothes, he would do so very quietly and

discreetly by himself. He didn't ask for help much himself, but he was the one that his

classmates went to for help.

Help on things like, can you help them finish the kimchi because it's too spicy?

He didn't like showing any type of affection to teachers and came across as the cold kid.

If you gave him a good morning hug, he would roll his eyes and make a funny face as to show discontent,

but also stand there and wait

if he didn't get his morning hug. He was so smart and reliable that even I would forget that he's only five.

As a novice teacher, I spent a lot of time observing how more experienced teachers interacted with their students.

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