I would see a mom with a toddler screaming in a grocery cart and think, “Why can’t she calm him down?” Oh, how naïve I was! Having kids sure does slap you with reality and make you understand things. If I observe that same scene now (sometimes involving me and my party of two), I nod with total understanding and empathy.
Before kids, I couldn’t fathom why a parent would put noisy shoes on their child. I would see children running through malls with squeaky shoes on and cover my ears. I never understood why the moms and dads would sit there with a big smile, watching their little one, oblivious to the offending noise.
You know what?
I now get it! I TOTALLY get it! Every child is different. Every family is different. I have a 2 ½ year old son with developmental delays. He walks, but struggles with it daily. Lately, he has been walking on his own more and more and he’s so proud. I get tears of joy in my eyes just thinking about it. He takes unassisted steps with a huge smile on his face and a look in his eyes that says, “Are you proud of me?”. Awhile back, I was given a pair of squeaky shoes for him. Let me tell you, that squeak squeak squeak as he walks little by little, step by step is beautiful music to this proud mother’s ears. He loves hearing the squeak and that helps him want to walk more and more.
So, the next time you see someone doing something you don’t understand, try putting yourself in their shoes (squeaky or not) for just a minute.
I wrote this post for the Naptime Blog. You can read all of my posts and posts from other bloggers here. There are lots of personal posts there from me. I will be featuring more of those at a later time to help you get to know me better.
