Childhood in Motion: Why the Journey Matters More Than the Destination

 

We’ve all heard the adage that it’s not the destination that’s most important – it’s the journey that counts.

Between the hustle of Monday morning and the last bell on Friday, a child isn’t only going to school – they’re finding out who they are.

For parents, selecting a school is not about glossy brochures or meticulously paired desks. It’s about discovering a place where your child’s voice is raised long before it’s polished, where falling down serves as part of taking wing, and where questions (not just answers) are worth applause.

But here is one we don’t talk about enough: movement.

Not the sort that happens on the football field or the morning assembly. But the emotional and intellectual movement – the quiet momentum of a child changing, growing, evolving, and sometimes just marveling.

Motion as Growth

Consider childhood as something like a motion picture, not a snapshot. When children are properly seen and heard, they are in motion – disagreeing, questioning, challenging, crafting, reshaping. This type of fluidity is not something to “fix.” It’s something to protect.

Education, then, ought to be less about endpoints and more about motion. The transition from “Why is the sky blue?” to “How can I change something?” does not always happen in a split second. It is in a thousand small nudges, pauses, leaps, stumbles – and occasional rewinds.

And that sort of growth can’t be standardized.

It requires space. It needs time. And most vitally, it needs a school culture that understands that cadence and doesn’t push it.

Schools as Space-holders

Yes, curriculum matters. Yes, faculty matters. But schools are more than subjects and syllabi. They are the first actual society a child has to navigate.

What if, instead, we viewed school as a “placeholder” for everything in between – joy, challenge, self-discovery, inspiration, awkward silences, uncontrollable laughter?

In these schools, children are taught to name what they are feeling without fear. They come to understand that vulnerability isn’t a weakness; it’s a language. And they learn how to simply be themselves without feeling they have to make amends.

More often than not, this emotional fluency is a far better predictor of success than academic grades.

The Gift of Safe Risk

When was the last time your child did something that frightened them a bit, but they were even more proud to do?

The most excellent schools leave room for safe risk. Speaking in front of the class. Trying a new art form. Asking for help. Disagreeing respectfully. The risk isn’t only to the body, it’s to the person. And each brave step into that safe lapse builds a confidence that no textbook can teach.

This climate of “safe” risk is what distinguishes schools that “teach” from schools that form.

The Rhythm of Relationships

What we often forget in school narratives are the connections – between a teacher and a child; between students; between quiet and sound. These are the things kids carry forever, even when they forget the laws of thermodynamics.

Great schools like the schools in Faridabad don’t just teach; they choreograph an emotional rhythm that makes children feel seen, appreciated and loved. That rhythm builds trust. And trust is what feeds a child’s mettle to ask, to fail, to try again.

For if the classroom is not a safe place to make mistakes, how can it be a brave space to change our minds?

The Hidden Curriculum

You certainly won’t hear it from the school diary. It won’t be on the exam. But every school has it – the secret curriculum.

It’s how we talk to kids. The tone in the corridors. The response to a mistake. How much respect (or lack of) is given to support staff. These are cues that become part of a child’s moral blueprint. They start learning who belongs, who leads, and what matters.

This is the type of education that is going to prepare a generation not just for college but for the world.

Redefining Progress

Let’s talk honestly. Every child need not be topper. And that’s okay.

Not all progress is measurable. Sometimes it is as though a child is opening up for the first time. Or standing up to a bully. Or sitting next to someone who is not included. These are the kinds of milestones that matter – even if they don’t appear on report cards.

As parents, the biggest gift we can give our children is not the pressure to succeed, but the permission to be.

To be curious. To be kind. To be imperfect. To be in mad, dancing motion.

In Closing: Where it All Comes Together

If you are a parent looking for a place that gets this philosophy of childhood, as on the move-as adventure, where your child’s adventure will be recognized, treasured and stretched, maybe The Shriram Millennium School (TSMS), Faridabad will feel like home. As the best CBSE school in Faridabad and a part of the thoughtfully progressive schools in/around Faridabad, TSMS ideates on the same viaduct of education.