Little People Lessons
Years ago a little four year old boy taught me a life lesson that’s stayed with me for a long long time, that’s how valuable it’s been to me. It was one of the kindest reprimands I’ve ever received and looking back now I’m sure he wouldn’t even remember it if I reminded him.
TK’s twenty-nine now. My, how time flies. I remember it was a week day, a Friday I think. TK, god bless his little cotton socks wanted to give me a special surprise, so, unbeknown to me and when I was off at breakfast he made my bed. He made it in a fashion as only a four year old might!
That is, by standing at the pillow end of the bed and hauling all blankets in an upward direction. Nevermind the tell-tale bulges (my pj’s) in the middle of the bed, or the fact that the sheet-ends weren’t properly tucked under the mattress. Pfff, that’s such a minor adult preoccupation! Who notices anyway? Not a four year old.
Neither did it matter to him that the duvet cover was skewiff following the huge yank it must have taken for him to to get it looking reasonably straight. No, none of that seemed to matter to TK. It was all about his intention. His intention to do something very nice for me.
I was eighteen at the time and as you know eighteen year olds have absolutely no under-
standing of the prudence of a poker face that one learns as one gets older. I remember the moments well. I recall now the out-of-sight muffled giggles and sounds of body-pushing that goes with trying to catch a first glimpse of the surprisee’s face when they discover the surprise.
I was genuinely surprised and showed it. And as eighteen year olds are want to think, I thought, ‘great now to make the bed properly!’ And so, I proceeded to do just that, to make my bed up adult-properly. And you know, as an eighteen year old I wasn’t really that blessed with a whole heap of empathy for the feelings of how those actions would impact on a four year old child.
I’d almost finished remaking my bed when I noticed TK standing in the doorway looking for all the world like he had experienced a crushing setback, received a king hit and was doing a very good job of not being steam-rolled by a wave of tears. I still hadn’t got it, not even then. I was an emotionally-dense eighteen year old! I was.
He just looked me square in the eyes and asked me this simple little question, “why are you doing that?” And then, miracle of miracles. I got it! It was kind of like an epiphany in the end. But no-one told me how awful it would feel.
The valuable gifts TK gave me that day and ones I carry in my heart today are firstly, insight and secondly that ‘good enough’ is better than perfect any day! And it’s especially so when the gift has been given in a spirit of love. Good enough beats perfect any day, any time because it goes to intention. And as we know, children wear theirs [intentions] on their sleeve for all the world to see.
