A little girl sitting near the front at one of my shows and kept talking, and squirming. Her mother finally made her sit down and sternly whispered that if she didn’t sit quietly and listen to my program she would be taken into the hall to get a spanking.
With her arms crossed in disgust, the little girl watched the program for about 10 minutes.Then she turned to her mother and whispered…. “Lets go out and do the spanking.”
When the mother told me this story I hit the floor laughing. I had fully expected her to tell me her daughter had whispered how funny I was. But the little girl chose a spanking rather than listening to me.
Nothing will bring you crashing back to reality quicker than a child.
Once a precocious little girl came up to me after a packed show with over 3000 people. She just stood staring at me. After such a successful evening I was on cloud nine. Many little children just want me to sign something so I asked,
“Would you like an Autograph?”
“Up close,” she said, “Your really old.”
You know what? “Far away,” I’m really old. But I’m sure having fun. The unrestrained honesty of a child can bring us back to earth and restore a sense of humility even to the most prideful among us.
When we take ourselves less seriously, it helps us lighten up and live.
Have you ever been taken down a few notches? What have you heard from the mouths of babes?
Comments
A preschooler where I volunteer saw wrinkles when
I took my sunglasses off, and asked, “Are you old?” (because I had been playing in the sand,
barefoot) I replied, “NO, just my skin is old.”
I work with 3 year olds. One asked me one day, “How old are you?” After giving the standard response of never asking a woman her age, he replied back, “You must be six or something, right? That’s REALLY old!”
One morning I had to get up early to watch my young cousins… as I sat on the couch trying to get my body, including both of my uncooperative eyes, to fully awaken… one eye just wasn’t ready… my 5-year-old cousin, Daiven looks at me in all seriousness & concern, asked me, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with your eye?’… I told him, something along the line of, ‘it’s not awake yet’. He then proceeded to get up close and personal, sticking his fingers/thumb in under my glasses, and very carefully pulls up my recalcitrant eyelid, and says in a very serious voice, ‘eye, wakeup’. I just about died laughing… I still get a little giggle at the memory.
Story I read: The mother took her little boy out of church for not being quiet. She stood out in the church yard and sternly told him that church was where they learned about God etc. and he should be respectful. After finishing her speech, she asked him if he had anything to say. “Yes ma’am. You’re standing in doggie poop.”
I work with special needs children at my church. During one service, the other worker and I took the two children we had into a typically developing room to see the movie they were watching. As I introduced little Maia to one of the other children I was asked “Can she talk?” “No, she doesn’t know how to use her voice.” Then I was asked: “How old is she?” “She’s 8 years old.” Finally I was asked: “Are you her grandpa?” HER GRANDPA? I’M ONLY 45. Yesh!
Ok another one. Again, I work with special needs children at church. Recently, eight year old “Charlie”–who has Down Syndrome, cognitively he’s about 3–came in and gave me his usual hug. Then he saw my girlfriend/co-worker and said “Miss Angie!” and hugged her. After that he saw our other teacher and said: “Miss Kristie” and hugged her. I told him: “Wait just a moment, you said Miss Angie’s name, and Miss Kristie’s name, but you didn’t say mine.” Charlie looked at me and proudly said “MINE!”