Childish Outlook

I love the innocence of a child. You know they often look at things untainted from stereotypes, opinion and other rhetoric. They describe things exactly how they see them. They do not know they are suppose to keep somethings in their mind or not express how they truly feel about something. Sometimes, I'll admit...these times have caused a little embarrassment for me--other times, they have been great learning experiences. Sometimes, they are just plain funny! I thought I would share a few:

*Around the age of 4, John Gannon had gotten into watching Narnia. One day at Walmart, I was looking on the shelves for some children's Tylenol, one hand was on the buggy where John Gannon sat quietly. As my eyes scanned the shelves, I heard his tender little voice, say, "Moma." I kept scanning the shelf and responded, "What?" I wasn't at all prepared for what followed. "Moma, look...there is a half turtle, half man right there. Look!" I just briefly moved my eyeballs and noticed there was a nice little lady on the end of the aisle with a blunt cut bob that had a hump on her back. Oh, what was I to do? It didn't appear the nice lady had heard. So, I decided to ignore. You know, just keep looking at the shelf. That was definitely not the appropriate response. Because what did he do? He just said it louder. Oh how hot my face grew, my neck started itching from the tension--I didn't know what to do--apologize or run? I decided to put both hands on the buggy and split!

* Johnny and I have never told our children there are "bad words." I have always been intrigued with the history of how words become "bad" and how we can choose to substitute words for the "bad" words that are not bad. Just in case you wonder--Johnny and I do not use profanity in our home. Of course, just through socialization they have picked up there are some bad words, but usually it's things like shut up, etc. Several weeks ago Jackson got a little irritated, started stomping his feet and said, "Dame it!" Of course, I asked him to repeat it, "Dame it!" he said. Hmmm...where did he learn this or was he saying dang it? (one of the bad word substitutes that isn't considered bad that you might hear around our house occasionally). A few weeks later, Johnny got a little frustrated and said, "dang it..." Jackson replied, "Daddy, say dame it. I just say dame it too!"

*As for more serious times, when learning about the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, John Gannon was appalled. He could not understand it and asked me what in the world was wrong with people? How can people be so mean? He understood the acts of heroism and bravery that were displayed by some leaders. His insight was so refreshing--it was pure.
We have also never told John he was white--we don't ever talk about anyone's color, including our own, so he has never processed it. When we were reading about Rosa Parks, he brought it all up. His thoughts were something like this, "Moma, see how crazy this all was--if me, you, and Jackson wanted to ride the bus I could sit in the front, Jackson would have to sit in the back, and you...you would probably be allowed to sit in the middle. They were tearing families apart and that just wasn't right." :)

* John also got quite upset with all the credit that Christopher Columbus and later the Puritans (Pilgrims) are given for discovering and settling in America. He said how in the world can people think they are heroes when they just traveled to a place where people already were and either killed or ran the original people off. That just isn't right. Hmmm, needless to say history is going to be an interesting experience for us!

* I have also learned to rethink a lot of social norms that I have been unknowingly indoctrinated with over my life. For example: why must clothes match, why costumes can't be worn in public year around, why you can't wear socks with Chacos, why you can't get certain clothes dirty... I don't have a reason for any of those that makes sense....

Anyway, I am convinced, that we can learn a lot from a child...if we will only take the time to listen!

Here are a few snapshots from any given day around our house!

If they are outside for any length of time, it will not be long before John Gannon comes in the house to "suit up" to play out whatever adventure is happening in his brain at the time! And of course, Jackson follows!