Taking that little piece of life's philosophy to the level of a real deep thought, I began to wonder if that's why some parents seem so unrelenting in their sometimes bizarre bias in favor of their own children. What is it that kids do to define themselves so wonderfully in the eyes of their parents?
We've all been in a store and saw some little monster having a piece of candy or toy wrenched out of his clenched fingers by his mother as he violently shrieks and squeals like he's dying. We've all watched that horror scene unfold, thinking to ourselves, "that kid needs to be straightened out." We're so certain we'd never tolerate such a thing, proclaiming all that proverbial "my little Johnny would never do that" stuff.
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Where does her restraint come from?
I think I may have stumbled onto the answer to that phenomena over the weekend.
When it was my two-year-old son's nap-time on Saturday, I laid down with him. With our faces about six inches from each other he stared into my eyes far longer than regular people ever would without one of the people looking away. He had no expression.
Two men were not attempting to intimidate each other or preparing to fight. No one was conveying extreme anger toward another. Nothing like that. On the other end of the spectrum, no couple in love was communicating 'I love you' or getting ready to kiss. Nothing like that. He was just looking.
Then my son did something else. He took his tiny finger and very gently tried to close my eye. Then, very slowly, he leaned forward and softly kissed my eye-lid.
I have a 12-yr-old daughter so I know that eventually he'll be doing the drop-and-flop in a dime-store somewhere and my patience is going be tested.
But the next time you see that woman who seems unnaturally patient when you "just know" you wouldn't tolerate such behavior, just remember, she might know something you don't.
That little brat may have once, just for a moment, shown her the garden before the fall.
TIM HOLMSETH can be reached at timh@wahpetondailynews.com.
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