Today's Laugh

Kids See the Darndest Things

Author: Karen Linamen

Kids have such whimsical ideas about life. Take, for example, the belief that four packets of Kool-Aid, twenty Dixie cups and a handmade sign can be levied into enough cash to buy a bicycle. And what about that tooth fairy? Or love at first sight? Or the idea that four-leaf clovers are actually worth the search?

But here’s my favorite.

One day I overheard this conversation between my eight year old and her best friend, Rachel. They were talking about a friend of theirs who was just learning how to skate.
Rachel said, “…and then she let go of the rail and kinda teetered and started to fall…”
My daughter said breathlessly, “Did she catch herself?”
Rachel said thoughtfully, “Yes, she caught herself, but her rump was on the ground when she did.”
Apparently, in kidville, even in the midst of abject failure, humiliation (and possibly a chipped tailbone) there’s still room to say, “She did good. She turned it around just in time.”

I want to be eight again. Except maybe taller. And with all my adult teeth. And I’d be ever so grateful if I could keep my drivers license and credit cards.
And my kids. I wouldn’t want to give them up either.

Now that I think about it, maybe the only thing I really want back from those years is a childlike perspective that empowers me to see magic in the mundane, possibilities around every corner, and hope even in the midst of apparent failure.

You grow up a little, get a degree, get some job experience, suffer through a few of life’s not-so-fairy-tale endings, go through some therapy, read the morning paper, buy your first bottle of Rogaine, pay a few mortgages and raise a couple kids and you start to think you’ve actually turned into a grown up.
Now that would be a crying shame.

Karen Linamen is a motivational and inspirational speaker and the author of ten humorous self-help books including Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight and Due to Rising Energy Costs the Light at the End of the Tunnel Has Been Turned Off. She lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Visit her at www.karenlinamen.com.

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