What Happened to Childhood?

Yesterday, I happened to be walking in my neighbourhood at about 5:30pm, when I heard the voice of a little girl behind me say in a local language, "Ma, let's go home, I'm tired". Then I heard the voice of an older woman (her mum, I guess) respond somewhat sarcastically, "sure, we'll go home right now, and you'll see what you'll eat" (also in local language). Not to make it look too obvious what I was doing (eavesdropping), I waited till I turned onto my street, then I looked back. I saw a woman with a pan of vegetables on her head, a girl, not more than 10 years old also with a pan of vegetables on her head, and close behind a boy of about 6 years, with a slightly smaller pan of vegetables on his head.

Now, I'm all grown up and all, so I don't remember all the details of my childhood, but I know for sure my eating never depended on me selling vegetables or anything for that matter. Matter of fact, at that age, most conversations with my mum about food went something like,
"Dentaa, food's ready".
"Mum, really? Not again. I'm not having that"!

What happened to childhood?

Yesterday reminded me of something I saw last week with the intention of blogging about it, and then life happened, I forgot, and then yesterday happened, and then I remembered.
So, last week, I was heading home when I saw a girl of not more than 11 years with a baby on her back, crossing the road to buy something.

At that age, the only responsibility I had was remembering the time Cartoon Network showed Power Puff Girls and Courage the Cowardly Dog and of course Dexter's Lab, so I didn't miss them. And when I was the age of the baby, my mum sure never put no 11 year old in charge of me!

What happened to childhood?

And then there are all the children I see weaving in and out of traffic either selling or begging for money to feed themselves and their families.

Whose fault?
What happened to childhood?
#CountYourBlessings

Like A Child

Lately, I spend a lot of time with my 5 year old niece and 2 year old nephew, and I must say, kids are just amazing.

No, I do not want to spend all of my 24 hours in a day with them, regardless of how amazing they are. 1 or 2 hours would be just fine.

Of course kids do say the darnedest things, but that's not what I'm talking about.
Kids can be annoying.
No, kids naturally are annoying and these kids have a way of working my last nerve, so I scream at them, I ignore them, I do everything to get them out of my way including telling them to get lost.
Sometimes, I scream at them so much that I'm sure they'd never speak to me ever again. But guess what? The next minute they are all like "Aunty Dentaa, Aunty Dentaa", like nothing ever happened. They are able to let go. And I don't get it. It's as if they understand I screamed at them just because of that moment, because of what they were doing then, and they understand that it doesn't mean I don't love them.

Wouldn't the world be so much more refreshing if we could all take a scolding like a child, if we could all see this world like a child, if we could all just chill like a child? My 5 year old niece, she's already growing up too fast and sometimes she wants to act like, "Aunty Dentaa screams too much, so let me stay away from her", but even she can't keep that up. As for the 2 year old, sometimes I feel like going like, "why are you still talking to me, why are you still hanging around me? I just screamed at you, remember?"

Is it a wonder then that Jesus said in Matthew 19:14 - "let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these", and in Matthew 18:3-4 - "I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child."

Children do not know how to bear grudges. We were all once children. So why do we grow up and become like this?
Let's just all chill and take things in a childlike way.
Mind you, I said childlike, not childish. There's a huge difference.

P.S. I patiently await the backlash from my big brother and wife, my mum and grandma, about the screaming, but please, please, please, remember I said I love them :D