Seriously, cute. How can you not think my kids are the cutest? Or at least second cutest if you have your own first placers. We are at this really special place in life where one looks like a baby, but isn’t, and one looks like a big girl, but isn’t. They are both such sweet little kids. Both of them still curl up in our arms, just like when they were three years old. Some things don’t change, I suppose.

I’ve known for years that kids present two faces- their home face and their cool-around-friends face, but that was made abundantly clear to me this year as I worked with third graders at my school and parented one at home. I’ve always been under the impression that by the time third or fourth grade roll around that kids have it together. They are no longer little babies who need to be coddled and handled with kid gloves. They can handle a certain level of tough love, responsibility and independence. And to some extent that is certainly true. But on the other side…

They still need this. There is still this need to be cuddled and coddled. My kids still want me to sing their baby lullabies to them every night. EVERY NIGHT. And I love it! I love singing Baby Mine (from Dumbo), You’ll Be in My Heart (from Tarzan), Baby Beluga (Raffi), and Little Mr. Roo (from Winnie the Pooh, though we sing Little Mr. Jude). I hold their loooong, tan bodies in my arms and rock them one by one while the other waits a turn. Every bump or scrape is still documented, kissed and cried over. They are still babies. They are still little. And I’m determined to absorb as much of that as possible and keep them babies for as long as possible.

I want soft, kind people in our world. There seems to be this idea that we need to harden our kids off early to get them ready for our world. As a culture, we let them see violence and killing (the hateful part of humanity) and protect them from seeing love and sex (the loving part of humanity). But I want kids who know more love than hate. I want leaders in our world who are kind and forgiving. I want people who will hold one another and love one another.
I hope letting them be babies a little longer will allow them to attach to that soft part of childhood that we all hold so dear. I hope they grab that spark and hang onto it and they remember what it is that is so special and dear about being little kids. I realized it was slipping away when I was about 11and decided to Peter Pan it for the rest of my life. I’ve grown up a little, but in my heart I’m still 11.

They are more than just the cutest kids ever (or, as I said, second cutest if you have first placers). They are also the guides for our planet, the docents of our future, and I want a future filled with hugs, love, smiles and tender moments with my children, my grandchildren and the rest of the people that do and will make up my community.
So I’ll raise them soft, and cute. And I’ll hope for the best. 🙂

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