Charlyn’s Web

It’s all a matter of perspective. Not the deep kind of perspective I’ve talked about before but the simple sight differences between Child and Parent.

Children are supposed to have innocent eyes who see the world with freshness and wonder. Parents on the other hand are known to be cynical, hardened beings who just don’t get it.

So it is in this household.

I empty a container and am about to throw it away when HP comes up- “Don’t throw that away!”

Why not? It’s trash replies his Mother proudly because she is a known pack rat and is just learning the joys of actually throwing and giving things away.

“I could use it for something! Put something in it!”

I don’t think so! Knowing that ‘something’ means ‘water’. Besides, have you seen his room lately? But that is another story.

We went shopping awhile back for shoes. We were in a largish store that sells a number of things. The Kids discovered the things in the shoes to help them hold their shape. They are long black plastic things with a hook on one end. They loved them! We somehow came home with more than were in the shoes we bought. They also found….somewhere (the floor?) a blue plastic thing that kind of looks like a bulb but isn’t. It has been a valued item with several fights disagreements over it’s ownership.

On this same trip I spied KJ, between the drinking fountains and the Ladies Room, reach down and pick up something off the floor. I, being the sane, calm Mother, am yelling at her to PUT IT DOWN! It’s trash for goodness sakes! Move away s l o w l y! But, you see, she couldn’t be sure of that until she looked at it closer. She reluctantly put it down again.

On our walk today HP found a beer bottle cap in the dirt. What a find! He was very pleased.

What in the world are you going to do with that?

He smiles and shrugs. But he NEEDS to have it! Sigh. I inform him that if I find it on the floor, on the table, etc. I am throwing it away!

Broken toys, broken necklaces, parts of toys that are meant to be used in a different manner, rocks, pieces of pens, hair clips are just some of the things I find in the most interesting of places, being used in the most interesting of ways and, most often, scattered from here to kingdom come. But try and throw them away (the ones that need to be thrown away) and oh the agony and gnashing of teeth!

I have a hard enough time keeping this place picked up and clean without the added burden of extra trash being brought into the house. But see, that is where my perspective is off- in my children’s eyes it’s all very valuable treasure.