Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “left alone.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Today I’m posting early because I won’t have access to a computer tomorrow.
I was reliving a day care moment this morning and decided to work it into my Stream of Consciousness post.
Years ago, I had a little guy with Down’s Syndrome in my care along with his older sister. He sat blocking my backdoor one day and I was anxious to move him away because he would have been knocked over and possibly injured if one of my BIG KIDS came barging through the door. For some reason my hands were either full or all sticky (I can’t remember which.), and when he wouldn’t respond to my request to move away from the door, I slid him away on my glossy wooden floor using the side of my foot. Ha! It worked so well, and he thought it was funny.
BUT, his sister, who often seemed to be on a covert spy mission, asked me out loud, “Why did you kick my brother?”
I said, “What?”
She added, “I saw you kicking my brother.”
I told her not to be silly and that he liked it.
But I worried about a following report to her mother (who incidentally is an extended family member).
That same child made a few other outlandish claims through the years. (She learned early on the more interesting her reports were, the more her mother intently listened to her.)
The impetus for such stuff seems to come from kids having a parent who lives on the edge of victimhood and outrage. That girl’s mother constantly complained about other people so there’s no doubt that I was a topic at their house too. I didn’t care about the mother. But I was afraid the kid (Who I love and care about.) was going to have a difficult life with that attitude.
So, I’m asking that everyone leave the kids alone. Keep them out of hearing range of adult conversations. They are sponges.
When I was a kid, it was a big “no, no” to be present while adults were talking. We had the option to be sent outside then. Lucky us!
Still, IMHO a refresher course for young parents needs to include keeping their kids “left alone” and away from adult topics. I see parents these days bringing up complex topics around their kids too often to count. Their children’s innocence is far more precious than they seem to realize.
Happy Saturday, friends! Talk nicely to the kids or send them outside this weekend. You’ll be glad you did!
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