Kids are special. They are amazing, silly, surprising, honest, loving, incredible little people. Now at my age, I call anyone under 40 a "kid", but for the purpose of this discussion, I'm referring to those mini- human beings who have already started walking and talking, but haven't yet started smoking nor drinking nor making out. So I'm talking about children from just under four to just over twelve years old.
Life is beautiful, and it's more beautiful with kids. You can't get more basic than that; kids are our future- they're why we do what we do! But they are also fleeting, temporary. As my wife says, "Those days don't come back". It may be a cliche' to say "They grow up so fast", but Damn! Don't blink your eyes! Childhood is the morning of life, the springtime of life.
Must say I miss those days of watching the news early for school cancellations so I could let the kids sleep in. I miss helping our son with his homework. I miss Family night at Ben Franklin Elementary. And Book Fairs. Chuck E. Cheese and Coco Key. (Oddly, I don't miss SpongeBob Squarepants.)
What's cool about kids is that everything is new to them, everything's a discovery, everything's exciting. I recall when Wendy and I were watching her cousin's son. I taught him how to flip a coin off his thumb. He was so thrilled! Stuff that is nothing to us is so wondrous to them. When did we lose that sense of wonder? Kids don't have to "think outside the box", because they don't have a box yet. We haven't built that box in their heads yet.
To kids, nothing is impossible. They'll believe whatever we tell them because their minds aren't cluttered with "facts". (Is it any wonder Christ taught that unless you receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, you ain't getting in?) However, they can be hindered by fears. And this is where a strong, dedicated, caring parent or grandparent comes in.
Kids have weaknesses. And they need our encouragement. Children are impressionable, and we must be careful what we impress upon them. Play, pretending, and imagination are how they sort out their world, not with logic, reason, and research.
Why? Why ? Why do they always ask why? Do they really want an explanation, or they they just challenging our version of reality? How long until we run out of "because" 's?
Fun. Kids love having fun. And they can have fun doing something as simple as blowing a soap bubble. Over and over and over. And doesn't candy & stuff taste better when we're kids? I've heard we actually have more taste buds in our early years....the sugary ones, anyway. And isn't it cool to be so small you could wear one of those flower-shaped butter cookies on your little finger? (Yeah, tell me you never did that!)
I'm rambling, but, wow, birthday parties, story-books, sleep-overs, Christmas presents (except clothes), school fund-raisers, cartoons, summer vacation, back-to-school time, camping, so on & so on, all the wonderful times we spend with our kids. What would life be like without kids? NOTHING! There wouldn't be any life, once all us adults passed away!
Children are a treasure. They make us happy, make us proud, make us sad, get us mad sometimes, and cast reflections of us. Sometimes we look at how they've developed and grown, and just ask ourselves, "what did I do right?"
Kids aren't merely one of the things we love about life; they are our lives.
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