Amazing Gifts--A Paragraph a Day

I got a great birthday present today.  It's a giraffe that's made out of beads.  It's about seven inches tall, and when you press the button below the base that it's standing on, it kind of collapses until you let go of the button, and which point it stands up straight once again.  It's special because it was given to my by a pair of twins who aren't even four years old yet, but who found it in their hearts to send a gift home for me with my wife, who works with them during the day.  I've met them a couple of times, and even helped my wife babysit them once, but I never expected that at their age, they would be interested in sending me a birthday present--and even give up one of their own possessions to do so.  It's kind of overwhelming in a way, but in a very, very good way.  They're very kind little kids, and it gives me a lot of hope to see two kids so young thinking about giving something to someone else instead of keeping it themselves.  They gave me something straight from their hearts, and it definitely touches me deeply in my own heart.  Perhaps this is what people mean when they say "heart to heart"?  I'm not sure of the original meaning of the expression, but it certainly works here.  And the only appropriate response to such an amazing display of generosity is gratitude, mixed with more than a bit of happiness when two very little kids find someone to be so important to them that they're willing to sacrifice their attachment to a special toy of this and pass it long to someone like me.  Two less-than-four-year-olds made my whole birthday brighter with something straight from their hearts, and I would be hard-hearted indeed not to acknowledge just how special that is!

Three and a Half--A Paragraph a Day

I had a wonderful opportunity last night:  my wife and I babysat for two little kids, twins, who are three and a half years old.  My wife knows them very well, as she nannies for them three times a week, but I had met them only twice in passing, so I didn't know them as well.  But for me, the chance to spend a few hours with a couple of little kids is always a wonderful opportunity.  And we did have a wonderful time.  We played hide-and-seek, we drew pictures, we ate dinner, we talked, my wife and I read to them--it was simply a great time.  Tiring, a bit, but great.  Little kids, if we treat them well, have so much to teach us.  They enjoy life for exactly what it is, they show their joy, they express themselves honestly (such as at bedtime, when the girl wanted her mommy because she wasn't used to going to bed without her mother around).  Her crying didn't last long, though, because she found something better to do--reading to her dolls in bed, until she fell asleep.  To me, time spent with little ones is always a blessing, especially when they're really nice little kids (and most are) as these were.  I read to the boy until he couldn't hold his head up any longer, then my wife carried him to bed, where he crashed.  If you ever want to reset things, to see the world in a different way, to feel more of the love of and passion for life, do yourself a favor and spend a little time with a very little kid, and don't try to order the kid around--let them be who they are, and learn from who they are rather than trying to make them learn what you think they should learn.

Grown-Up? No, thanks!--A Paragraph a Day

Too many people grow up.  That's the real trouble with the world--
too many people grow up.  They forget. They don't remember
what it's like to be 12 years old.  They patronize, they treat
children as inferiors.  Well I won't do that.   -Walt Disney

Sometimes it seems that growing up makes us into pretty unpleasant people.  We lose so much of the wonder and charm that we had as children, and it seems like the worst part is that that's how we want things to be.  We're satisfied with becoming unimaginative, uncreative, and even a little boring--or a lot boring.  Personally, I hope that I never fully grow up, and I do my best every day to make sure that I see what's around me with eyes that aren't jaded or bored.  And when I'm around children, I refuse to talk down to them.  I try to talk to them as people--little people, of course, but people nonetheless.  If I do that, then I'm not condescending to them, and they greatly appreciate knowing an adult who doesn't talk to them like they're somehow inferior just because they're younger.  So if I don't grow up into a so-called adult, I can continue to relate to children in positive ways,  Hopefully I'll get plenty of chances to do so, so that I can do my best to encourage some young people by recognizing them in the space where they are and encouraging them to do the things that they really want to do.  Perhaps if this happens, I won't turn into one of the people about whom Walt is talking--the people who forget and who treat children poorly.  I want to be a person who doesn't grow up into what our culture defines as a "grown-up," and who doesn't patronize and treat kids as inferiors.  So here's to hoping that I live up to this dream and stay a person who loves kids and who treats them well, because they certainly deserve for me to do so.