Words of a Child

Deep Thinker built a spaceship out of lego’s, and Rowdy Rebel threw it on the ground. It broke in half (easy to fix though). So Deep Thinker was really mad, crying, and kept talking about it even after we fixed it–just all bent out of shape.

I wanted to teach him about forgiving and moving on. So I told him about the time my sister tore my favorite swirly-q picture. I was about 7, and she was 5. I liked drawing swirly-q’s and coloring them in. But every time I drew one, it turned out crooked, too dark, or too small. But finally, one day, I did it. I drew the perfect swirly-q ! I was sooo happy!

A few minutes later, my sister asked me to play inside with her, but I refused. Out of anger, she tore my picture in half. To Deep Thinker, I pointed out that my sister didn’t want to hurt me or my picture. I said, “See, sometimes little brothers and sisters do things like that. It doesn’t mean they want to hurt you–it sometimes means they really need your love and attention.” He got it. Or so I thought.

About 30 minutes later he comes up to me. I could see from his face that he was horribly upset. His little chin was quivering, and his mouth was pinched. I asked, “Are you okay? What’s wrong???? ”

He said, trying really hard not to cry, “Why don’t you buy a new curly thing NOW, Mommy?” I asked “What?” He said, “The thing that your sister BROKE. Why don’t you buy one for yourself now, Mommy?” He wanted me to buy myself another swirly Q picture that wasn’t torn. So compassionate.

He felt totally better after learning that my father had taped my picture back together for me:)

Filed under: Child Kindness, Child Speech, Child Thoughts, Lessons Learned, Questions, Touching Moment, Uncategorized