Some Perspective

 

I can’t believe I haven’t written in such a long time.  Old habits die hard I suppose.  I could provide a lot of reasons (or excuses) but I’m not a fan of excuses so we’ll just go with starting fresh. 

In the last few months my youngest child has dropped my wedding ring and diamond down the overflow drain in our bathroom sink, broken the window control button in a fairly new car and spilled more things than I care to think about.  He’s also ripped apart the pages of a book meant to be a baby gift.  While I must admit my initial reaction to all of the above wasn’t exactly calm (in the case of the wedding ring it was simply WHAT DID YOU DO? …to which he cried), somehow in the midst of the crisis I was able to gain some perspective. 

Thankfully the perspective came before any yelling or crying or punishments. 

The little stinker is just like me. 

When I was younger (I have no recollection of exact age but I do know I was younger than 8) I pulled the front of the television set apart.  I wanted to see what was inside.  I thought there were little people in there.  I wanted to see them.  Maybe meet them, make friends with them.  Any way you look at it, I left that television set useless.  We didn’t get a new one for years.  I am sure that my older brothers still curse me for the years we went without television. 

But I was curious, and so I explored that curiosity.   My little guy is doing the exact same thing.  He put the ring in the circular hole at the back of the sink because he wanted to see if it fit.  Pulled the window control button off because he wanted to see if he could put the window down when the car was off.  Ripped a brand new book apart because he wanted to see how the hippopotamus head moved.  I have no good explanation for the spills so perhaps we need to learn a few boundaries there. 

Anyway, the bottom line is that if I don’t help him explore his curiosity I’ll squash it.  I would rather have 100 ripped books than damage his inquisitive nature.  

I am so very thankful that in the midst of the chaos of 3 year old mayhem I heard the still small voice reminding me of my past mistakes.  I was able to gain a little perspective. 

So I’ll foster that inquisitive mind.  Maybe help him take a few things apart-teach the little guy how things work.  Maybe one day he’ll use that inquisitive brain for big things.  Things I can’t even imagine.  Who knows.  But if the choice is between helping him or hindering him…this mother is going to help. 

Oh…and I’ll put my rings up where he can’t reach them…just in case