Sunday, August 19, 2007

Someone call the parenting police...


What was I thinking? Did no one tell her? Oh Jees, I have to run out there right now to tell her! This is what was going through my mind as I stood there slyly watching Bella frolic outside from the office window. She laid down on the small hill in the backyard, looked up and pointed. She almost said a word but nothing came out. So relaxed (unusual for a toddler) then she just put her finger down, crossed her arms and stared straight up... then a look of bewilderment took over her face. That's when this: What was I thinking? Did no one tell her? Oh Jees, I have to run out there right now to tell her! popped into my head. The sky, that's the sky. See it's blue and has white clouds but mostly it's just clear and blue sky. I was embarrassed, had no one told her what that big, and bright omnipresent beauty was over our heads? She can say please and buckle and she doesn't know that's the sky?
Eventually, I got over my initial surprise that no one pointed that out to her. We go through the day doing everything possible for all of us and somehow we forgot to tell her that the sky is always above. She didn't mind that I was very persistent about her knowing and understanding the sky. Maybe she got it and maybe not. I will forever, from this point on try my darnedest to point out and think of what is so usual and obvious and explain the heck out of it for Bella. She deserves to know and to know as early as possible. There are too many people out there who don't know why the sky is blue! My daughter deserves to, and hopefully will, have the most knowledge possible for a child her age, but it's up to me!
Do you know what happened later? After Bella came inside I was bathing her and I realized that I am not the only person this child associates with daily. Someone else may have mentioned the sky before and she just forgot. She could forget. It is not just me that inputs into her experiences, vocabulary and wisdom. It is so many. I really flattered myself this time with the whole me, me, me submerging from said realization. This world is so big, there is so much to learn. I still learn from my parents at age 28, things that I should have known before I got married, hell, even before I went to college. But, we never stop learning and we can only realize the true volume and importance of our children's minds.
Lesson learned. This girl passed through me and now belongs to this world. Some things are great and some are small, but it is how much attention we pay to them and how we translate them to the next generations that matters (to me.)

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