KIDS THESE DAYS

These last couple of weeks I’ve been around a lot of kids. This is rarely the case so I took advantage of such presence and, not intending to, found a simple joy that I feel is so easily misplaced these days.

The funniest things come out of kids’ mouths. Last week at my grandmother’s birthday dinner at the house, our neighbor, Nicole who’s 6 years old, was over and I helped her with her 1st grade homework. My cousins, Tin and I were occupied with eating and talking that I guess Nicole got sad and I found her sitting at the bottom of our staircase crying. So I asked her what was wrong and here’s how our conversation went:

NICOLE: No one wants to play with me. I told my mom I want a baby brother or sister, but she said ‘no!’ (Nicole’s parents are divorced). I’m all alone!!!”
ME: But you just told me that you had a lot of best friends at school.
(She pauses, still crying)
NICOLE: But I have no one to play with at home.
ME: Well, you have a lot of books and toys at home. You can play by yourself when you’re not in school with your friends. I used to play by myself all the time.
(And then she looks at me, huge tear-filled eyes)
NICOLE: I'M NOT THAT BRAVE!

So she goes home and then comes back with her mom, all smiles like she didn’t just have a drama fest on the stairway.



And then this weekend, we surprised my lola for her 74th birthday and I got to spend some more time in kiddy chaos (See pics link on the side). My nieces, April (7) and Alyssa (5) were there so Tin and I really had our hands full. They’re slowly getting over playing the shadow game (THANK GOODNESS!), and now are just talkative and silly as ever. With them attached to us all day, in addition to their little brother Anthony (3 or 4), 2-year old nephew Brandon, 1-year old cousin Lilly, her 5-year old brother Justin, my cousins Ruel (14) and PJ (21 or 22 I think), Tin and I felt like we were being entertained more than we were looking after the little ones. At one point all the kiddies were drawing (Lilly included, trying to get that pen grip just right in her tiny little hand), when a scuffle occurred between the siblings over some pork rinds:

Picture Anthony holding a cup of chicharon in his hand, and every few seconds Alyssa is sneaking chicaron in her mouth while she’s drawing:

ANTHONY: Don’t eat it all!
ALYSSA: I’M JUST SHARING!! (she grabs some more)
ANTHONY: Stop it!
APRIL (the big sister): There’s more downstairs!

I miss being a kid, not knowing or owning half the things I do now but being so content with what I DID know and have. Back then I probably didn’t know what the word “content” meant, but I never had to wonder about it and that’s what I miss the most. I suppose it’s easy to stay relatively happy as a kid when you don’t have so much to be UNhappy about; no responsibilities, no complicated relationships, not very many worries. Hmmm, what I’d give to re-visit such an age for at least 15 minutes everyday. That’d be nice.