A conversation with my 6 year old self

How much easier would life be if we never matured past our 6 year old selves? How much more wonder would the world be filled with if we still believed in Santa Clause or magic or grown ups doing no wrong? I can't even think of what I was like back then, but if my biggest stress was missing Dora or Thomas, life would be good. I am constantly reminded of how much of an old curmudgeon I've become when I get the opportunity to spend some time with youngsters. I, myself, am not too keen on the idea of having my own baseball team, or even really a doubles tennis team, but each time I get around a child in the age range of 4-6 I can't stop myself from smiling. Last week I was afforded that golden opportunity to spend some time with my cousins 4 year old son and his 9 and 13 year old sisters. I love those girls very dearly, but there is just something about a little kid that's in kindergarden that just gets me. They don't really comprehend what your saying, entirely, so what they do hear, or stop long enough to process, comes out completely wrong than what you actually said. You see, 9 year old was playing this game with me called just don't smile at that girl. That girl being me. I guess I should be more specific in saying that she was playing, I was the victim in these shenanigans. As endearing as that might sound....I call happy opposite day on that one. So, I lean into 4 year old and say, Jake, make sure you don't make your sister smile. Can you do that for me? He then zips around the corner at lightening speed screaming, DON'T MAKE ME SMILE! Even as I write it, I'm laughing. It's just how they work. I'm sure as a parent this is the part that drives you up the wall. But how can you help but not laugh at them? And then there is the time when I had the pleasure of spending a little while with an older man. You see, he's 6. It's venturing towards too old for me, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I heard he had a lot to say, so this couldn't be boring. I was warned though, but again, I'm kind of a sucker for this age range so I couldn't imagine what lurked behind door number one. As I walk in the office, I'm greeted by iCarly? For those of you that are older than age 10 and don't have kids AND know what this is, shame on you. You should immediately leave the computer, get in your car, and go to a bar. Meet someone new and NEVER mention that you watch or know what this show is. I'm still not entirely sure what the whole gigst of the show is. I was, however, told that he's not entirely sure why, but both Carley and Sam love him. How does he know? Well because they only look at him when he's watching the show. I mean, come on! How cute is that! Sure, as adults we would try and crush his imagination by telling him that they are looking at a camera which is then projected onto your TV screen, but if you thought that your world would be limitless. And don't tell me that when your favorite celebrity has a breakup, there is not a small part of your brain that says, well why wouldn't he/she be with me? I'm way cooler than whoever they were just with. If only I knew anyone remotely close to that person or a distant relative or someone that could help us meet. Who are we to crush these kids dreams when I know that I watched talking under water creatures with snorkles coming out of the top of their heads. So, after an extremely long education session on what in the world he was watching, I looked around the room to see if there might be anything else that we could talk about. I then noticed that his backpack had a picture of some sort of blue creature on it. So I did what any person in my position would do, I asked. After, maybe 15-20 minutes of explaining to me who that was and then proceeding to slay two imaginary dragons, in front of me, I tried to change the subject yet again. I felt this particular story had run its course. Now, if there is one lesson I have learned by being around children, if they are not finished telling a story, do not interupt them. They aren't finished and they know that you don't understand. So they are going to keep telling this story until you either walk away, fall asleep, or they think you care. I want to make it known that I DID care who was on the backpack. I did ask the question. I just didn't think we would then be heading off to the land of Narnia where I would have to "watch out" when he pulled out his imaginary sword, which was 2x the size of him. But as I also learned, he has giant muscles, which he showed me, that he gets from sleeping. So hear this workoutaholics, if you want big muscles, be in bed by 9 and wake up by 8:30. It's the easiest training session you'll ever encounter :o) I guess I should know better than to ask all these questions, but my time spent with younger children is so limited that I sometimes think that they are just tiny adults. I was told though, during my dragon session, that kids really do know everything. Adults don't think they do, but they do. But, not as much as God. He knows everything. So that got me thinking, which led to this blog, which led to you reading it, which will hopefully lead to you thinking about it. Although I do not stand behind ANYONE that has Peter Pan syndrome, I think I would like to try at least one 5 year old mentality thing per day. Whether it's sitting outside and holding someones hand to cross the street, or playing with my match box cars on my carpet or just realizing that world is full of so much wonder and possibilities. What are we all so stressed out about? We seemed to breeze right through our toddler years, no problem. They seem to be okay. Although the teachers in the crowd would probably disagree with me, there has to be some place in your heart for these little yodas. Things are so simple for them. You haven't quiet started to go to school yet and if you are the only things you're learning are how to count, how to spell, and how not to pee your pants. There really aren't any mean girls. Your lunch consists of a PB&J and a snack pack, and you get a nap. Like someone actually delegates time for you to take a nap! How much more would we get accomplished as a world if we all got nap time? It would be amazing! Now on the other hand, I do understand that tasks and projects would take about a million years to get done since these adorable little monsters do get bored and distracted very easily, but if that's the only downside, count me in. I'm all for listening to the kids of the world to see what they think. Maybe they really do have all the answers and we're too busy with our "really important problems" to take notice. Whitney Houston might be on to something, perhaps the children really are our future. :o) Happy Monday!