Do any of you remember the days before kids when you envisioned parenting as idyllic days of lemonade stands and children with general good will to all mankind? So perhaps I read too much as a child. Stories like The Little Princess and The Secret Garden left me discontent, even as a child, for what childhood could have been. Should have been.
And now I parent 5 kids, and I really do believe in the innocence of childhood. What I've come to discover, however, is that innocence does not equal goodness or mild manneredness or inherent other-centeredness. In some ways, innocence just means that my children think they are the first ones to do the thing (good or bad) that they are about to do!
Sasha and Lily bugged me and bugged me until I finally gave in and let them have a lemonade stand. I tried to put it off until Papa got home with the excuse that they needed him to carry the little table down the driveway. Oh me of little faith! 3 minutes later the girls had mixed lemonade, found cups, got a money cup, and pulled the table down the drive. They made name-tags for themselves and a sign asking 10 cents a cup. Good deal if you ask me!
What made this moment cute beyond words and heart-touching in a way worth blogging is this: Sasha and Lily had a second money cup set out with these words written on it: Fore Pore pepole. (Okay, now is not the time to comment on my teaching abilities.) They had decided to give part of their proceeds to a charity organization. Needless to say, everyone who stopped gave over and above the requested 10 cents.
When a customer asked who they money was going to, Sasha decided that Children's Hospital was a worthy recipient of their efforts. Our nephew was recently in Children's for a surgery and ever since then the hospital has taken on mythic proportions in our home. They ALL want to go now! It's like the Madeline story, "Boo hoo! We want our appendix out too!"
I have great kids. They have tender hearts and loving spirits. Their creativity and love of life inspires me to put down the vacuum and enjoy the lemonade!
2 comments:
Dena, I read this post and thought how much our kids would probably enjoy each other. Eric had already commented and so I decided to wait. Then, as I was posting on my blog, I happened to find a comment you made on my first post. I had never seen it because somehow I ended up setting up two sites and abandoned that one. (I don't know how to delete it!) It was funny because what you said re-iterated what I already thought about our nine-year old (ouch, still stings!) girls. I'm sorry I missed your comment all this time. I post on ginasblogfog.blogspot.com and I check your spot regularly. It is a neat way to keep up with our dear friends.
Love it. Lemonade Stands are a summer ritual with Michaela and she roped Spencer in last year. One of the things I love is to see how generous the buyers always are. Somehow, no one ever needs change!
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