Good Afternoon, Darlings!
Happy Wednesday!
Today I'm here to discuss the randomness of children.
Today I'm here to discuss the randomness of children.
Children are the most random creatures I've ever met in my life
and, in addition to the above photo,
I have a story that illustrates this!
I have a story that illustrates this!
Last Friday Afternoon at Thomas Jefferson,
it was an absolutely GORGEOUS day!
Bright blue skies, puffy white clouds and GLORIOUS sunshine!
As soon as snack was over
(and a short time-out for some children with listening problems),
I took all the Lovelies outside to play.
As I have already said,
the Weather was Perfect!
So naturally, being the pathological picture-taker that I am,
I had my iPhone out
and was busily taking photos of the Signs of Spring.
A few of the children had gathered around to watch
and as I took a photo of the clouds,
one of the kiddos asked me,
"Miss Sarah, why are you taking pictures of the clouds?"
I answered,
"Because I love them!
They are so bright and puffy!"
Then I went all "Despicable Me",
"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"
(That was MY moment of randomness.)
I think I momentarily stunned the children into oblivion.
After a few minutes of recovery,
the same child said,
"Hey, Miss Sarah! You should start a cloud
picture collection on your phone."
I agreed,
"Yes, I like clouds."
To which another child responded,
"Well, I like pink!"
And yet another answered,
"Wow! Look! I made a grass ball!"
You know how on movies when there's an awkward moment
everything goes completely silent
and all you can hear are crickets chirping?
That's how this conversation ended.
No one really said anything after that.
We all just kind of went our own separate ways.
Probably because no one knew how to turn
that scrambled egg conversation into an omelet.
How in the world did we get from fluffy clouds and "Despicable Me"
(at least there was a connection
between the conversation and my randomness...)
to the color pink and the ability to make grass balls
(do not ask me what a grass ball is...
I don't know and I'm pretty I don't WANT to know!)?
Now my darling cousin, McKenzie, is intentionally random
(is that an oxymoron?).
Meaning she sort of thinks up random thoughts ahead of time
and then throws them into conversations
whether they fit the topic that is being discussed or not.
Her goal is to amuse people and occasionally make them spit their drinks
through their teeth from laughing so hard.
She's intentionally trying to be funny.
Like I said, she's intentionally random.
But it's different with my little lovelies.
Sometimes, they don't have a clue why the words
they've just uttered completely crack me up.
They've even asked,
"Miss Sarah, why are you laughing?"
To which I usually respond by hugging them close to me
and reassuring them, "Because you are so cute."
I think the randomness of children
has a lot to do with their innocence.
They haven't experienced crippling embarrassment
or been publicly mocked yet
(and hopefully never will,
but unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world).
Therefore, they are less inclined to inhibit their words and actions.
They say what they are thinking
and they do what they feel like doing.
And sometimes what they are thinking has absolutely nothing to do
with what is currently going on or reality in general.
And I absolutely love it.
I LOVE THEIR INNOCENT RANDOMNESS.
I will admit I don't always know how to handle it.
Sometimes I get to laughing so hard that
my assistant has to take over the conversation,
but I have learned one lesson that has worked for me thus far:
Just Go With It.
If you're helping your seven year old with her homework
and slowly and strategically
working your way through her spelling words
and she randomly mentions
she really, Really, REALLY wants a pink pony,
Just Go With It.
If you're in Wal-Mart getting groceries
and you ask your Kindergartener,
"Do you know what kind of chips you want in your lunch?"
And he responds with, "No, but I know what I want for Christmas"
(which is MONTHS away),
Just Go With It.
If you're in Sunday School with your preschooler
and you ask the children what song they would like to sing
and he bursts into "Hot Dog! Hot Dog! Hot Diggity-Dog!"
instead of the Sunday School song you were hoping for,
Just Go With It.
Conversations and situations such as these
don't mean that you've failed as a parent,
quite the contrary in my opinion.
To me it seems that you are doing your utmost
to preserve your child's innocence
and give him/her what she needs:
a childhood.
You are giving that little sweetie the space and time
to just be a kid.
And he/she is showing his/her appreciation
by being innocently random.
So when your kiddo's randomness lends
an awkward-silence-ending to the conversation,
Just Go With It.
I will do the same with my little lovelies
and we'll let them be kids as long as possible!
Have a great rest of the week! :)
No one really said anything after that.
We all just kind of went our own separate ways.
Probably because no one knew how to turn
that scrambled egg conversation into an omelet.
How in the world did we get from fluffy clouds and "Despicable Me"
(at least there was a connection
between the conversation and my randomness...)
to the color pink and the ability to make grass balls
(do not ask me what a grass ball is...
I don't know and I'm pretty I don't WANT to know!)?
Now my darling cousin, McKenzie, is intentionally random
(is that an oxymoron?).
Meaning she sort of thinks up random thoughts ahead of time
and then throws them into conversations
whether they fit the topic that is being discussed or not.
Her goal is to amuse people and occasionally make them spit their drinks
through their teeth from laughing so hard.
She's intentionally trying to be funny.
Like I said, she's intentionally random.
But it's different with my little lovelies.
Sometimes, they don't have a clue why the words
they've just uttered completely crack me up.
They've even asked,
"Miss Sarah, why are you laughing?"
To which I usually respond by hugging them close to me
and reassuring them, "Because you are so cute."
I think the randomness of children
has a lot to do with their innocence.
They haven't experienced crippling embarrassment
or been publicly mocked yet
(and hopefully never will,
but unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world).
Therefore, they are less inclined to inhibit their words and actions.
They say what they are thinking
and they do what they feel like doing.
And sometimes what they are thinking has absolutely nothing to do
with what is currently going on or reality in general.
And I absolutely love it.
I LOVE THEIR INNOCENT RANDOMNESS.
I will admit I don't always know how to handle it.
Sometimes I get to laughing so hard that
my assistant has to take over the conversation,
but I have learned one lesson that has worked for me thus far:
Just Go With It.
If you're helping your seven year old with her homework
and slowly and strategically
working your way through her spelling words
and she randomly mentions
she really, Really, REALLY wants a pink pony,
Just Go With It.
If you're in Wal-Mart getting groceries
and you ask your Kindergartener,
"Do you know what kind of chips you want in your lunch?"
And he responds with, "No, but I know what I want for Christmas"
(which is MONTHS away),
Just Go With It.
If you're in Sunday School with your preschooler
and you ask the children what song they would like to sing
and he bursts into "Hot Dog! Hot Dog! Hot Diggity-Dog!"
instead of the Sunday School song you were hoping for,
Just Go With It.
Conversations and situations such as these
don't mean that you've failed as a parent,
quite the contrary in my opinion.
To me it seems that you are doing your utmost
to preserve your child's innocence
and give him/her what she needs:
a childhood.
You are giving that little sweetie the space and time
to just be a kid.
And he/she is showing his/her appreciation
by being innocently random.
So when your kiddo's randomness lends
an awkward-silence-ending to the conversation,
Just Go With It.
I will do the same with my little lovelies
and we'll let them be kids as long as possible!
Have a great rest of the week! :)
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