Sunday, January 29, 2006

from the mouth's of babes...

Our lovely granddaughter had quite the summer in '05. She's shown here at a ranch in the Spokane, Washington area where she spent some time with friends of the family. Although she looks angelic she's known to sometimes wander from an angel's path... from time to time, not often... you can tell by the hint of a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

I know this is coming from her loving "papa" but... well... I seek truth therefore I often have to speak truth even when it's awkward for me to do so.

Her brother, two years older than her is quite the big brother. He watches over her, plays well with her, shares with her... in short he's a very good boy who will grow up to be a very positive, productive and active member of our society. However, he does let his younger sister "set him up" quite a bit.

She too will be a very positive, productive and active member of society and she's also very well intended... 99% of the time. There's always that little 1% though... that 1% where she just can't seem to resist those opportunities that present themselves to her... those moments where she can torment her brother and get away with it. Those moments where she can turn the tables on him after their spat of the day is "found out" by one of us overseeing adults.

Yesterday, in particular their adult second cousin interrupted a spat between the two and told our grandson to "quit tormenting your sister!".

Our 7 years old grandson promptly replied "First of all, I'm not tormenting her and second of all I don't even know what that word means!"

Now, how can anyone keep a straight face and stern attitude after that comeback? Needless to say, the truth was found out... granddaughter's manipulative, mischievous moment was exposed and our grandson learned the meaning of a new word.

You gotta love it! Life and learning at it's best!

GO 'HAWKS!!!

3 comments:

Steve said...

That's great! :+)

What a wonderful picture you have of her too. A terrific amile!

I have two boys. My youngest one (YS - younger son) is 7...my oldest (OS - older son) is 11. My YS watches everything that my OS does. Most of my YS's friends are older than he is too. It just seems like he grew up quicker. Or, at least, he has the same interests as his brother. But my YS is very adept at manipulating my OS: he knows what will get under my OS's skin better than anyone! Fortunately, that hasn't gone unnoticed by my wife and I. We can usually "fix the blame" where it actually belongs, i.e., once we get the OS off of the YS's back. The OS likes to pretend that he is the parent sometimes. But, like I tell my OS: "Stop playing the middle man! You want me to do something right now, but I can't get to him because I first have to get you to leave him alone so that I can then get to him myself. I hate wasting my time and energy like that, when it is so unnecessary! Don't stand between us. Don't try to be the parent, because you aren't...and let us do our job here!"

Yes, it is all about teaching!

Steve said...

ummm, "a terrific smile," I meant...not "amile" :+)

Dennis said...

Steve- LOL. Kids are perfect examples of innocence.

DG- Glad you enjoyed. LOL

ed- oh yeah, I prefer a bit of mischief mixed in too. And she does have her brother, dad and... well okay me wrapped around her little finger.