Innocence of a Child

The past couple weeks especially I have observed something I find very interesting:


The innocence/carefreeness* of a child--and the lack thereof.


Two Saturdays ago we were at my friend's mom's wedding and the bride's son was a dancing machine. This 10-ish year-old was so happy in general, but he was also definitely cuttin' a rug with those dance moves! He didn't care who was--or wasn't--dancing with him, he had a move for every beat and was having a blast! [And we were all having a blast watching him!] After a couple songs, he had enlisted 2 of his friends to dance the night away as well, but it was clear that he was the leader as the other two were 'taking' dance moves from him! We called it a night relatively early [it's amazing how babe's do that to you!] but even as we were leaving, Jordan was still tearing it up!


Fast forward to this past Saturday. We were at my cousin's wedding reception [yes, this marked wedding #3 for Ainsley already, we have just one more this coming Saturday]. Here there was another "Jordan" tearing up the dance floor. A little girl, probably about ten [I'm not real sure as she was from the bride's side], who was a serious dancer! It didn't matter what the song or the genre, she had moves for it! For most songs, she even knew the words and were belting those out as well! Now the week before with Jordan and the other boys, they were dacning their hearts out, but their dance moves were pretty much the same from song to song--disco, shaking booties, etc.--not this girl. Her moves actually coordinated with the music being played! This girl was also a blast to watch! After several songs there were two other little girls [sisters] that joined the Dancing Queen. One one probably 8 or 9 and the other about 4.


Here's where it got kind of interesting. The Dancing Queen [that's what I'm going to name her to protect her identity since I don't know her name] tried to get the older sister to dance all crazily like she was, but the older sister, who was willing to dance, didn't seem like she wanted to dance like that. She even seemed to try to "tame down" the dancing queen by holding her arms down when she wanted to swing them up in the air [like she jus' don't care!] Later I noticed the older sister trying to hold the yonger sister's hands and "control" her dance moves as well. Lil' sis was dancing like the Dancing Queen or like you would expect a carefree 4-year-old to dance! The big sister was unsuccessful here as well and every once in awhile, I noticed she was dancing a little crazily too! :)


Okay, now it's Sunday. Mister, Ains and I were walking strolling to church and a few houses down there were two little kids playing outside with what had once been a big cardboard box--it was now a big unfolded piece of cardboard, perfect for each to wrap around themselves and "drive" the other one around. Of course the person in the backseat had to be facing backwards for this to work! ;) As we approached them on the sidewalk, they were having a great time and just about to switch drivers. It was almost as if the older sister--this time about 5 and the little brother was about 4--suddenly was too old to be doing what she was doing, especially in front of strangers. She looked at us and kind of rolled her eyes and said, "My brother wants me to do this!" About that time the little boy took off crazily running and about left big sis in the dust. We told the little girl that it was okay, because it looked like a lot of fun! Both were laughing like little ones should be when playing outside together on a gorgeous day!


Chris and I smiled at each other as we continued on to church.


And now for the point of these stories--I know, you were beginning to wonder if I had one!--as we continued to walk, I turned to Mister and said, "Let's be sure to help Ainsley to be a little girl and not think she has to grow up so fast!"


Did you notice that similar string in all three stories? There's a sense of carefreeness about little kids. They don't care what they are "supposed" to do or what is socially accepted, they do what makes them happy and what they think they should be doing in that moment. That's something special. That's something that is grown out of way too soon. The big sisters in the last two stories were already catch up in doing what their innocent hearts desired compared to what "others think".


I know I too easily get caught up in this. I don't sing like no one is listening--I don't think I can carry a tune in a bucket have no musical confidence. I recall my junior high English teacher telling us that she only sings for God and her babies because they don't judge. It takes quite a bit of courage to sing to Ains! I don't dance like no one is watching--I'm guilty of desiring that my 4-year old niece would be at the weddings so I could dance with her because no one judges when an adult dances goofy with a little kid, only when they dance goofy by themselves, right?!


It is my goal as a mother to Ainsley and any future children, that I don't get caught up in being too "grown-up" and as a result not let my kids be kids. There's even a couple websites that I came across this past summer that is all about avoiding Adultitis and Escaping Adulthood. Check 'em out!


So what do you do to remain childlike? What could you be doing to remain childlike?! Leave a comment, make a suggestion, and let's challenge each other to be more innocent and carefree!


*I recognize that carefreeness isn't a word, but English isn't my thing. Making up words is. :)