Walking a Mile in Pint Sized Shoes

I have often used my 3 young boys as a great source of material for this column, and with good reason. It continually amazes me as to just how much one can be enlightened by simply standing back and observing young children as they view the world in their own unique way. The following provides some examples.

My eldest son may be 4-1/2 but I swear his mind is going on 7. He understands things that I never thought kids his age should know. I once asked him just how he became so smart and roared when he told me “Because I eat Smarties!” It seems to me that when I was 4-1/2, I was told that Smarties were bad for me, but I guess he is proving that theory wrong.

Late last winter I arrived home from work one night and the same son greeted me at the door. It was clear he had something to tell me and when I asked what it was he said “Dad, I need to tell you something; snow is coloured white, but yellow is dog pee.” The subtleties of that statement I still carry with me to this day.

With many years of lullaby-singing experience I have also uncovered the dirty little secret that those who write lullabies don’t want you to know. You see I discovered one day while cradling one of my children that the effectiveness of a lullaby doesn’t come from the lyrics per se, but rather the manner in which they are sung. I discovered this quite by accident when I was struggling to remember the words to a particular lullaby so I improvised and in a soft, gentle tone began to sing the first thing that came to my head which strangely was “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns’N’Roses. Amazingly within seconds his eyes were shut and he was asleep. From that point on I never sang anything but contemporary adult-oriented tunes and with great effectiveness. My boys will grow up never understanding just why they always get sleepy when they hear “Enter Sandman” by Metallica...but I will!

It’s said that if you want to truly understand someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. Well I would gladly walk a thousand miles wearing my son’s shoes if I could continue to learn in as simplistic a way as they have been teaching me thus far.