Biting Your Tongue...

Sometimes we just need to listen.

If we took a moment to stop the words that were itching to slip out of our mouths and just hear what is going on around us we could stand to learn a lot. Especially with young children around.

Devin: "Next year I am going to Kindergarten. I'm really going to miss all you guys!
Mommy: "Where is it you think you're going??"
Devin: "Kindergarten mom! So I won't be seeing you anymore."

Sienna: "Devin you have an owie on your weg. Now we will cut off your weg. Okay?"
Devin: "Sienna...if you cut off my weg all of my food will fall out!"
Sienna: "Oh no... we will cut off your arm. Okay?"

Devin: "Mommy...remember the time that I went hunting and caught a tiger and we ate it for dinner?"
Sienna: "Ohhhhh yes...that was NUMMY!"

There is the truth...and then there is the truth as kids see it. These two things would appear to be very different from each other, and the reality we live in. Kids are constantly bending the truth to fit their own needs or will even choose to disregard it completely in lieu of their own "truth". It's an appealing practice, really. How many times have I wished I could write my own reality? Or change the situation I was in based on what I wanted to happen instead of what was really happening?

Think on it a minute...
Yes, the appeal of it is quite apparent, eh?

It is completely refreshing to just listen to the way children view their world. Many times I find myself wanting to correct what they are saying in order to set them on the right path:
No, your food will not fall out if you cut off your leg.
No you will not be leaving our family permanently to go to kindergarten.
No you have never been hunting on your own and as far as I can remember you have yet to feed me tiger for dinner.

But it is those times when I stop the urge to just jump in with my own "truth" that the real essence of being a child comes through. Innocence. Creativity. Imagination. Three things that I hope my children never lose just to be "right".

So, for now I try to listen and allow myself to dwell for a bit in a reality that is not quite my own. I know these years of young children will go fast and I want to hold on to every tidbit while I can.

Now, off to find a recipe for tiger...I have a special dinner to prepare.