THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES by Cybrita Children see the world in unique ways. Although their views might differ wildly from reality, it is a viewpoint we should see, if only to remind us of a world seen through different, more innocent eyes. Below are three instances of a child's vision. Can you remember your own thoughts as a child? ********************** I was visiting my sister, when I heard my great niece, Jill, 4 years old, crying. As I walked to her, I heard her cry out, "Grandad can't be a boy! I know he's a girl. Boys aren't nice!" Her mother, Jan, was murmuring to her that Grandad was indeed a boy, and that not all boys were bad. "No! All boys are bad. Grandad is a girl!" As I entered the room, my brother-in-law had just stepped up to Jill. He picked her up and held her. The crying became louder as her heart broke. "You're not a boy, are you?" she sobbed. "Yes," he replied. "Some of us boys are just as nice as girls. You'll see. Grandad's not the only nice boy." Through her tears she looked at him, and a tentative smile formed on her lips. "Do you promise, Grandad?" "Of course, I do," he murmured. "You'll meet some nice boys one day and you'll know for sure." Although the crying hadn't completely stopped, it appeared that Grandad was able to make Jill feel a little better, even though he was a boy. ********************** During the summer months, my sisters and I spent nearly all our waking moments playing outside. In one extraordinarily rough exchange, one of my sisters fell against the cement porch step and cut her forehead. The gash was bleeding profusely, and we ran for Mother. She and my Father who had rushed home from work, sped my sister to the doctor's office to receive immediate medical attention. One of my aunts arrived to take care of me and my remaining sister. After a short while, the telephone rang. It was my Mother letting us know that my sister would be okay. She said, "The doctor had to sew up the wound, but it will heal." In my mind, I envisioned the doctor placing my sister's head under the presser foot of a sewing machine and stitching up her cut. I kept this picture in my mind until I was a teenager! It was only then that I realized it had to be hand stitching. *********************** Several of my nieces and their friends were gathered around my kitchen table, talking and giggling about subjects only little girls would find funny. I gave out cupcakes and milk for each of them, then left to fold clothes. I re-entered my kitchen a few minutes later to see a strange sight. The girls had eaten nearly all the frosting off the cupcakes, but weren't eating the cake itself. "What's wrong?" I said. "Is there something wrong with the cake?" Each girl stared at me, as though I had suddenly become insane. "You know we can't eat that," one of the girls blurted. "Why" I inquired. "Don't you know that when you eat white cake it turns into dough in your stomach?" I didn't. No persuasion could tempt the girls to eat the cake. I knew in the future I could not cook white cake again for them. Of course white cake does not turn into dough in your stomach. I couldn't help but wonder what they believed that yellow cake did in their stomachs. I didn't ask! ©08/31/2011 CVN and Cybertown have first electronic publication and archival rghts . Thereafter all other rights revert to the author.

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