Oh, to be Three Again!

Carol Martzinek

The list of things our precious little people can teach us goes on and on. We would do well to pay attention to them.

My younger sister Jean and I are fortunate to live near enough to each other for us to be able to spend time together on a more or less regular basis. This is especially nice, since I am privileged to be “Auntie Carol” to an adorable niece and nephew, and I love being with them.

Last weekend, our Saturday outing consisted of a nice long walk to do some shopping. The weather was unseasonably warm, and the skies were bright blue and sunny. My niece Erica was excited about being able to blow her bubbles along the way. We couldn’t hand her the bubbles fast enough! There was only one problem with this course of action. Have you ever tried to walk somewhere with a toddler who is very happily blowing bubbles? Well, if you haven’t, suffice it to say that they don’t exactly move with the greatest of speed. If you have, then you know how wonderfully “in the present moment” toddlers can be. They aren’t worried about getting to the store before all the good sale items are gone. They are in no rush to get anyplace. They are perfectly content to enjoy being in the here and now.

This started me thinking about another lesson I can learn from Erica. She gets excited about things that most of us grown-ups take for granted. A perfect example of this took place during Thanksgiving dinner. We had finished the dinner, and were getting the table set up for dessert. We weren’t paying any special attention to the desserts we were placing on the table. All of a sudden, we heard Erica say “Oh my goodness! Look at all these pies! They look so nice and tasty!” I’m not sure which was funnier - the excitement on her face, or the way she said it - but whichever it was, it made four grown women nearly collapse in hysterical laughter. It also made us see something that we had taken for granted in a new light. Seeing the world through the eyes of a three year old gives it a whole new meaning.

Toddlers love learning new things, aren’t afraid to ask lots of questions and to keep asking “why” until they’re satisfied. They believe in magic, and they see magic in everything around them. They don’t worry if no one gets their jokes. One of Erica’s favorite jokes is actually a combination of the beginning of one joke, and the punch line of another. “Why did the chicken cross the road? Because he had a peel! Get it?” When she tells it, she doesn’t worry about whether or not we’re going to “get it”. She doesn’t worry about laughing at her own joke, either. She thinks it’s the funniest thing in the whole world. Therefore, it is. The list of things those precious little people can teach us goes on and on. We would do well to pay attention to them.

©2002 by Carol Martzinek. All rights reserved. Distribution via e-mail, disk, print, or any other form is prohibited under U.S. copyright law without express permission of the author.