Sunday, August 14, 2005

my 3-year-old's idea of a perfect moment

My 3-year old is turning into an indoor child and I can't handle it. More than once did she now tell me she doesn't want to go outside. In the morning she sounds like her dad when she tells me to close the curtains because the sun is bothering her. But the moment I realized she is becoming a city kid snuck up on me yesterday at the end of her bedtime routine. Her latest excuse for getting up again after the lights have been turned off is that she is scared. Sometimes she is honest and you just hear a loud sigh and her groaning out of the darkness of her room "aarghhh. ....Mooom!...sleeping is boooring!"
Anyway, so yesterday while tucking her into bed I tried to get ahead of her I'm-scared-excuse and told her to close her eyes and imagine something beautiful.
me: imagine a beautiful thing. what's something really beautiful for you?
maia: (thinks) ... "TV," she finally says smiling happily, "and milk."
me: (country girl in shock) TV??!!
maia: yes, ...TV with milk...and pancakes on top of the TV (to make it even more better).
me: we gotta get you outside more often.
maia: I don't wanna go outside.
me: sigh. (with inner turmoil)

I am from Austria. I basically spent my entire youth outdoors. My favorite place were the woods. I climbed everything - climbable or not. I was dirty most of the time and I think I wore a dress once. ... Rosa keeps on asking me what's so bad about staying inside. ...I can't say. It's a life-style. ...And I truly believe children should be outside everyday.

No comments: