Don’t kids just drive you nuts?
I mean, they’re always laughing and giggling and playing. What’s their problem, anyway? Why are they always SO happy? Don’t they know that adults like me have SERIOUS things to worry about?
Like the other day. After a long, incredibly stressful day, I asked my son Sean how HIS day went.
“Well, it wasn’t so good... But then we saw 4 caterpillars. So I guess it WAS a great day.”
Right. With logic like that, how could you go wrong? Wish I could tell that to my boss.
“Sure, I just lost a $2 million dollar account but on the bright side I saw 2 bees, 1 butterfly and 3 frogs so what’s the big deal?”
And what’s with all this laughter? Is it really healthy – or necessary – to laugh that much? Do they have to laugh SO LOUD? Can’t they just be quiet so I can sit there and worry about all of my big people problems.
What’s so darned funny about words like “fart” and “poopie” and “peepie” anyway? And how is it that a simple word like “underwear” can throw a kid into fits of laughter so overwhelming that they just might pass out if you follow it up with “bum bum.”
And is it really necessary to have so many darned questions? Can’t they just accept life for what it is like the rest of us? Why oh why must they dream all of the time and ask me crazy things like:
“Daddy, do you love the dog more than me?”
“Daddy, where did the moon go? Did it turn into a butterfly?”
“Daddy, why does the bank have all our money?”
And why are they always looking for puffy clouds in the sky so they can give them names like “fudge sundae” and “lemon drop” and “teddy bear” and how could they never seem to see the rain clouds that surely must lie just beyond the horizon? Is all that optimism really necessary with so many problems in the world?
My one year old son Luke recently discovered leaves. Now all he wants to do is look at leaves. For God’s sake, Luke, there just isn’t enough time to spend all day looking at leaves and rainbows and the sunshine cutting its way across the golden leaves on a Fall afternoon.
There just isn’t time for that! Adults like me have so much more important things to do. Like worrying about bills and responsibilities and deadlines.
Every night, when I kiss my three year old son Declan good night, he asks me the same simple question:
“Daddy, are you going to work tomorrow?”
If I tell him yes, he wants to know if I’m going to come home at the end of the day. I tell him, “Yes, of course” and he is happy.
If I tell him that I don’t have work tomorrow, then he wants to know if we’re going to eat cinnamon buns together in the morning. I tell him, “Yes, of course” and he is happy.
Is that not the craziest thing you ever heard? What is it with kids these days? Is that really all it takes to be happy? A simple promise to come home at the end of the day or to eat cinnamon buns together in the morning and then wham-o everything is as good as can be?
Oh, to be a kid again! I’m starting to wonder if they’re the wise ones, and if we are the fools, so bogged down in our day-to-day worries that we can’t see the joy and the wonder right in front of our faces. Now pass the cinnamon buns and be happy!
I love your article!
Posted by: ann smith | October 16, 2006 at 11:52 AM
I love this article so :)
My little boy is just 4 months. How i wish he could grow faster and be able to talk soon. It's really tough being a new parent. *cheers
Posted by: First hand mum | September 27, 2008 at 12:41 AM