Children Keep You Young

Children wear you out and make you feel old, but they are constantly learning, experiencing, and discovering new things. They are excited and amazed by simple things that we've become accustomed to and take for granted.

Flowers are pretty, even the flowering weeds in the grass. Those flowering weeds are fun to pick, and carry around, and play with. It's a whole field of flowers. We don't even look at them. They're weeds. A little girl looks at the grass and sees, “Wow!” a field of flowers. Clouds are amazing when they are moving across the sky. An airplane is something that deserves stopping what you're doing to watch. Stars twinkle. The man in the moon can see you.

I have a granddaughter. If I had a grandson, my examples may be different, but the result is the same. Children get excited about the little things that we overlook. They love to do the mundane things we trudge through. Little children love to help us carry laundry to or from the machine. Throwing dirty clothes in the washer is fun. Matching socks and trying to help fold clothes is fun. Handing clean silverware to Oma from the dishwasher is fun. Dusting is fun. Sweeping with a broom taller than they are is fun. Actually, it's not the chore that is fun, the fun is doing it with you. Get them involved. Let them be helpful. Praise their efforts instead of ignoring them and yelling at them as they find inappropriate ways to entertain themselves. Little kids can't actually fold anything and the whole time they are helping to empty the dishwasher you’re freaking out inside, hoping you can get to the breakable things before they do. But they are totally worth all the anxiety and effort (even if you have to refold everything when they are not looking). They are involved, they feel special. They belong to the family. They are learning that you think they can help, that you think they can do things. 

 

Don't dismiss them because they are too little to do something alone and unsupervised as well or as quickly as you can do it without their help. They want to be involved. They want to belong. They want to do good and be helpful. But also, let them be babies (2 yr olds). Play with their toys with them. Read stories to them. Sing songs with them. Let them be part of the family, even the part that does the chores. Don't just sit them in front of the television. Put forth the extra effort to find a way to incorporate them into everything you need to do. Get off the phone, stop the continual texting, and communicate with your child. Otherwise, you are teaching them that your phone/computer/book/knitting (whatever you're doing without them that they have to keep interrupting) is more important to you than they are.

Stay young. Get off your butt, go for a walk with your little one and discuss everything you see along the way. Listen to the birds. Notice the airplane flying overhead. Point out the different colors of flowers (and weeds) that you see along the way. Get excited and amazed by the simple things with them. When you get back home, sit down and have a glass of water together. Draw a picture of a flower together. Let them scribble all over it. Then both of you can get back to those mundane chores. Smile. Laugh. Enjoy. Stay young.

“How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.” -Mother Teresa of Calcutta