My kid likes me.
I can’t get over it. I was in bed watching TV with my 8 year old daughter, which is a rare moment. She looked over at me and I just touched her little face and said to her, “I like you.”
She paused, looked at me, and said,” I like you too.”
It almost burst my heart with love for her because I didn’t think she actually liked me. She’s the one I yell at the most because she’s so sneaky! She disappears and is naughty on purpose. Maybe it’s because she is our #5 kid out of 6. I don’t know for sure, but she does seem to thrive on bugging her siblings.
For instance, when you even think you’re going to mention work, she just vanishes and hides in places. And, she’s always the one bugging her little brother, pestering him. As soon as she discovered that she could scare him, she did it four times in four minutes! She lives to get a reaction out of people. I have to say she very much resembles her daddy, my husband.
But, I find myself so touched by the fact that she said she likes me because it seems as if kids are trained to say, “I love you” in response, but I’m not at all sure that they actually like me. I am sure some of them do more than others though.
And when she said, “I like you,”—I felt as if there was hope that we could be friends and that she actually likes hanging out with me.
It’s really interesting because, since she’s fessed up to liking me, I’ve actually been more patient with her. We all want to be liked, but I never considered before whether she liked me.
In that sense, liking is almost more important. Love seems to be a duty-bound thing.
So, I’ve decided I’m going to ask my other children if they like me. However, I have yet to find the right moment.
I wonder why I never considered this before. This is so important as it reminded me that I should take the time to consider what things mean to us. The fact that she paused to consider first was impressive as a child. I wonder if parents should also consider the relationships we have with our children. They are little people, and by giving them more respect, they will act accordingly. They really are quite insightful.
What do you think? Leave your comments below!