8yo came in today and told me his 6yo brother was touching a dead lizard. It’s been a rough week and my 4mo baby has been sick since Friday, so I was resting on the couch while baby was napping. So I said that was fine – that everyone should just wash their hands when they come in. All kids play with dead lizards, right? Since, like, the beginning of the world, right? So I kept my eyes shut and didn’t get up.
A few seconds later 8yo came in pulling 6yo and griping at him to wash his hands. He also had 5yo in train. 6yo was protesting and 8yo was explaining that mom said everyone had to wash his hands. I was tired so I just listened! They got to the bathroom and 8yo was still admonishing 6yo to wash his hands in a very stern voice. I heard the water running in the sink, and apparently 6yo was complying because the next thing I heard was 5yo crying that she didn’t get to be first to wash her hands! So there they were, poor 6yo, who had been minding his own business with the dead lizard, torn from what he wanted to do and washing his hands obediently against his will, 8yo griping and forcing 6yo and 5yo to do something for their own good (although unnecessary), and 5yo crying and complaining about something as silly as the order in which they were doing it.
Then I thought, Is this how God sees us? It’s easy to chuckle at these kids acting like this, but are they really that different from grown-ups? We just do it in different ways about different things, but it’s basically the same.
I hope your baby gets better soon. I didn’t even know you were pregnant. Congratulations! Is that #5? We just had #5 in March.
Cute story. Kids have a way of bringing things into perspective if we look at things clearly.
It’s good to see you blogging again!