When Kara came to visit she said something to me that I have been thinking about. She told me that when she was younger and attending my father's church that "I treated and spoke to her like she was an adult" and she appreciated that. She was an incredibly mature young woman and I liked her spirit even when she was little, but I though about that comment. Maybe that is why, although I love my children tremendously, I much preferred them as they got older.
I was never one for babies or even little kids... don't get me wrong.... I love to smell their heads and nursing both of my girls was an amazing bonding experience. As they got older I liked to make them laugh, read to them and tell them stories, but I really began to enjoy them when they became people with opinions different from mine. When we could discuss adult things... like politics, love, and sex.
I think my mother was much the same way. I remember that Mrs. Cooper, from church, once told her that she treated me too much like and adult and because of that I spoke to adults like an equal. Obviously she didn't appreciate that. Haha! It seems so funny now, but back then children were to be "seen and not heard." Yes, my I remember that my Grandfather would tell us that at the dinner table.
I know that things are changing and that most children are being raised to speak their minds, but even as parents do that they also seem to be protecting their children so much more than before. Just an interesting juxtaposition.
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