Sunday, October 4, 2009

What She Doesn't Know

Anna Jane: it's amazing what she's knows....but what she doesn't know is even more amazing. This morning, like most mornings, I was putting on my make-up with Anna sitting next to me sifting through my creams and powders. She so much wants to be a big girl...all of the glossies and sparkles seem to just fascinate her. But, when I took the cap off of my foundation stick, it had the markings of a curious little girl all over it. It was gouged and smeared and pretty much useless. I immediately turned to Anna and asked her if she had been playing with my make-up and for the first time that I'm aware of, her little imagination concocted the most intricate tall tale of how my make-up had been destroyed.

She looked me square and the eye and proceeded to tell me that Josephine had gotten out of her crib in the middle of the night, had come into our bathroom and somehow with her magical super baby powers figured out how to out-smart the kiddie proof cabinet locks. According to Anna, she then went right for my make-up bag, took out this foundation stick and massacred it. Now, of course I know this didn't happen....when Josie's awake, I'm on her like flies on poo and I'm such a lite sleeper in the middle of the night I would seriously wake up if a fly sneezed let alone one of my children tore my bathroom apart. Also, this little story would then need to conclude with Josie putting all of these items back, somehow waddling back up to her room and climbing the rails of her crib to get herself back into bed. Uh huh, yea.

So what do you do? The following is a line from the book "The Secret Lives Of Toddlers"...Having a heart to heart with your toddler about the shamefulness and moral weakness of lying is about as good a use of your time as talking quantum physics ...hahaha...i think that says it all.

Also, someone recently told me that when toddlers begin telling little white lies that it's actually a good thing. That it means that they're cognitive capabilities are expanding and that they are beginning to understand depth of thought and consciousness...Nicole, did you tell me that? I can't remember and I'm no pro at this toddler business, so I have no idea...

But it got me thinking about how much they know after just 3 VERY short years. But out of nowhere and just as quickly, I started thinking about all of the things she doesn't know....all of the things I NEVER ever want her to know, but I know can only be contained for so long...

Like why some children have no food to eat. Like why we are at war. Why someone laughs at someone elses pain. Why some people are judged based on their race or religion. The fact that devastating accidents happen. That this world is big and not everyone can be trusted. She doesn't know yet that not everyone has a mommy and daddy that love them. She doesn't know yet about loss. She doesn't know that mother nature isn't always kind. She doesn't know that people take the lives of other people..........................But, I know those things simply come with the territory of being human and if we didn't suffer, what kind of world would we live in?...probably one with very little compassion or humanity.

Even so, we want our little ones to live in their innocent worlds for as long as humanely possible. But, sometimes being a parent feels a little like having your heart broken over and over and over again.

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