From the Mouths of Babes-How I Learned a Valuable Lesson

As adults we sometimes look at the world through “cynically colored” glasses.  We often jump to conclusions about our environment and unfortunately are usually right.  However, think back to a time when you didn’t jump to those conclusions and remember when the glass was always half full.

I recently experienced what goes on inside an innocent child’s mind during yet another visit to the orthopedist.  My 12 year-old son, who broke his tibia bone (the shin-ouch!) back in September, had to have his cast put back on because another student accidentally kicked his freshly healed leg in the hallway at school.

Because the appointment was considered an “emergency” we had to visit another branch of the hospital system in an area that I’ve never been.

After getting lost on the large hospital campus and spending a good four or five hours waiting to see the doctor, then waiting to be re-casted we were finally allowed to go home.  Of course my gas tank was on empty and if I didn’t get gas within the next mile I’d be pushing my car.

Luckily, a gas station was within a mile of the hospital so I gassed up and we were ready to split.  The hospital is located in somewhat of a seedy area too.  South Florida is like no other place I’ve ever lived.  Travel down one street and it’s lined with multi-million dollar mansions, but turn the corner and you run into a crack house.  Needless to say we were on the crack house side of town.

As I tried to navigate my way through this interesting area of town I thought maybe this would be the perfect opportunity to provide my son with a wake up call.  Our children are sheltered in their antiseptic suburban world and seem to be unaware of life’s little pitfalls.

We drove by a few working girls and then I spied a group of men hanging outside a home that was fully outfitted with large metal bars across the windows.  I could see my son was busy reading a book and wasn’t taking in the scenery so I nonchalantly nudged him and said, “Alex why do you think those men are just hanging around outside at one o’clock in the afternoon?”

At this point I thought I was so sly…such a good mother and was ready to launch into a speech about what happens to you if you fall in with a bad crowd or don’t go to college.

He finished the sentence he was reading and casually looked up and over to the group of men.  Without hesitation he said as seriously as could be, “Well, mom they are probably just stay at home fathers taking a coffee break.”

Stay at home fathers was the LAST thing I thought they could be, but that is the magic of childhood.  Instead of thinking the men were bad or crack addicts his first instinct was to believe that they were home taking care of their children while their wives went to the office.

I only wish he could preserve this sense of good about the world but I know, like the rest of us in time it will change.  And it should change so that you can survive, however that comment stayed with me for the rest of the day and probably through this season of giving.  Little did he know, but he’s the one who taught me the lesson that afternoon.