Kidlings

I have a 4 year old niece. She's an absolute pistol. Energetic and full of fun, loving life and her big sisters. She loves music, loves to sing and dance. For a Christmas present, her mom bought her and her sisters tickets to a Hilary Duff concert. (I know, I know... but they were excited *grin*) She stood on her dad's lap, waving her glow stick around and yelling at the top of her lungs.

Last November was my step-father's 65th birthday. Everybody showed up. All 7 kids and step-kids and 10 grandkids. My niece decided to sing for Papa for his birthday. They're really, really close. She spends all day every Thursday with Papa and Gramma working in the yard, or helping Papa with his wood-working. Anyway...

She started singing "I'm just a kid" along with a CD (remember, she's 4). Now, *I* never noticed, but apparently there's a "what the fuck" line in there. Well, when it came to that part of the song, someone turned the music right down, so she said it all on her own. Well, everybody started laughing and clapping. The poor kid was just looking confused. She didn't know what she'd said - she was just singing a song.

It actually hurt my heart to see the joy go out of her singing. Now her sisters tell me that she won't even sing that song anymore in case she says "the bad word".

I dunno... I think that's one of the parts about having a child that's going to be hard for me - watching the world intrude on their natural exuberance. Seeing peers and teachers and outside forces molding and shaping them into what society thinks they should be. I suppose then, that it's my job to try and keep the joy alive.