Out of the mouths of babes!
Recently, I spent some time with my ‘old friend’ and her delightfully honest daughter. She (the young daughter) informed me that my hair was shiny and looked pretty, that she liked my dress, and that I was ‘pretty fat’.
I thanked her for her compliments.
It seems strange to me how many people negate young children’s honest observations, and attempt to devalue them!
OK, ‘years ago’, my friend and I were both quite pretty. Yet, as we had kids, I had turned into a ‘mama bear’ while my friend had grown into a ‘foxy mama’! Yes, we have words for women like that!
Yet, that is not my point.
My point is how we treat ‘honesty’ – especially the type of honesty which comes from the mouths of babes. My friend’s daughter is pre-school aged, yet her mom looked uncomfortable when her daughter had made a true – even if ‘touchy’ – observation! Yes, she was relieved I was not hurt or offended – but how could I possibly be hurt or offended by the honesty of a child?
To my friend’s credit – she may have looked ‘uncomfortable’, yet she did not try to stop her daughter from speakng her mind. I applaud all parents who let their kids speak the truth – even if it is ‘socially uncomfortable’! Yet, among parents, she in the minority…
Has our society fallen so much that a child saying ‘The Emperor has no clothes’ would be shushed and shut up by it’s ‘politically correct’ parents?
If so, that is a truly sad state of things…for if a child dare not speak the truth, who will?
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 