Photo by Daria Obymaha from Pexels

Your brilliant mind
Constantly takes my breadth away.
Sometimes I commend you for your questions,
sometimes you bewilder me with your wisdom.

“Mom, am I sun tanned or brown skinned?” Asked my five year old daughter, in the most nonchalant way.

Hmm…that’s a new curve-ball in parenting.

No, I will not admit that like a typical millennial parent, I was tempted to say, “can you hold that thought honey, while I use the restroom (to google the most appropriate answer).”

Along with many followup questions, I put my instinct at bay and scrambled my head for that ‘perfect’ answer.

I didn’t want to give her, “I have a dream” speech, without knowing the complete context, but I didn’t even want to brush it off casually. The response needed to address her question, inquire the origination, and strengthen her values. Most importantly, it had to be age appropriate.

So, while I still was figuring it all out, in couple of nano seconds, she proceeded on to say, in a most matter-of-fact way –

“Oh I know! I am both…. AND I am beautiful”

SIMPLE. TRUE. POWERFUL.

Once again, I was flabbergasted. Only this time with her ease and simplicity in narrating the only thing that mattered – no matter the reason, she is beautiful.

I couldn’t help but wonder, do kids really need us to teach? Most often, they have a pretty clear and simple prism to view the world. Its adulthood which makes the clear, murky and the simple, hard.

That night, as I kissed her goodnight, I whispered in her ears – You are beautiful, my baby girl. Remember that, forever and always.

Advertisement