Dan: Enjoy them while they're young

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 23 October 2006 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

That's what a lot of parents have told us. As if, when they're older, kids are "less enjoyable" and therefore, we have to "enjoy them when they're small". I used to not pay too much attention to such comments, thinking they were just the sort of niceties or small talk thangs that parents throw around to each other.

And then, I started observing the kids in our courtyard.

Meet Marco, Max, and Miriam - ages 8, 6 and 4. And in the other corner, Anna-Sophia and Sister of Unknown Name - ages 8 and 12. Put together, these five kids are a rowdy, rough, rude bunch of thugs. They push each other around, throw water at each other, swing bats at each other, and yell at each other. And then, there's the obligatory Loud Quarrel, which occurs pretty much every day. It could be about any number of things - the rules of a certain game, who cheated, who pushed who and how much it hurt - and Loud Quarrel usually ends with the kids shouting at each other, only to be saved by an appearance by The Parents who call their kids to come inside for dinner.

I know that not all kids are that rowdy. But it does give me food for thought. Enjoy them when they're small. Enjoy them when they still hold your finger when they walk around. Enjoy them when the word "Peekaboo" still draws a wide smile and giggle on their face every single time. Enjoy them when they still hug you tightly when they need to poop. Enjoy even the crying - the loud wailing which shows they needs you. Before long, they won't need you anymore.