Something I love is watching young children and engaging with them 🙂 . It brings me real JOY. Spending time on the road with my husband lends me many opportunities to do so–from campground to campground. Two short little stories for you that still delight me as I reflect on them:
An exuberant 4.5 year old boy. Me. I was sitting propped up at one of the only electrical outlets there was charging my computer and writing. Preschooler shows up nearby with his Mama and little brother. Rocks climbed. Rocks knocked off of rocks. Up, down, jumping. Mr. 4.5 looks over and sees me.   
“Whatya doing?”
“I’m working! Soon I’m going to be done and go play.”
“Whatya going to play?”
“Ohhh…probably climbing on rocks and jumping….”
“That’s what I’M doing! Watch!” And again he climbs, jumps, and looks at me. “You have very strong muscles to move those rocks and climb so high to jump!” He grins and immediately begins all over again. Happily involved with his rock play. What better play IS there in a campground?! I so appreciated Mama, who stayed back and watched the work of her two little boys.
Mr. Exuberant 4.5 and I chatted a bit more about what he can do and he talked about camping here, and how daddy was cleaning and packing up cuz they were going home. Then, “You can come to MY house if you want!”
Me, “Oh! I like to play at houses….” and at the same time, as soon as he happily declared I could come play, he ducked around the side of the building and hollered out, “NEVER MIND!” Equally exuberantly from the Shy Perspective 🙂 .
I chuckled to myself…his sudden realization of “Oh my gosh I just invited a stranger and I’m suddenly super shy and don’t quite know what to do”...and I called out, “I wonder if you have Lego at your house? I have some at mine. I like to build with Legos!” I figured Lego is pretty universal…
And the wonderful magic started all over again…Mr. 4.5 back tracked, peered around the corner and said, “You DO? I do, too!” And then just as quickly he retreated…headed back towards his campsite…paused….then hollered over his shoulder, “MY NAME IS MICHAEL!” and off he dashed.
I called out equally loud, “MY NAME IS ALICE!” End of story. I so enjoyed how happily open and engaged he began, how he retreated, and how he “reached out” once again in a way he felt safe. Mama and I exchanged smile and off they all went.
A bit later (and this is story number two), I was walking through the campground and saw a Daddy setting up camp, his 3-year-old daughter standing near, water bottle clutched in one arm, special stuffed guys in another. Her big eyes watched me carefully as I neared. I smiled and waved. She watched. I said, “You have Special Stuffed Guys!” She watched me carefully–so different from Mr. Exuberant 4.5, and equally “engaged” in the way she felt safe–clutching her guys and staying near her Daddy.
Daddy smiled. Looked at his daughter and said to me, “She has TWO special guys and one is an elephant!” I paused. I smiled at her and said, “Oh! An elephant!” (making my elephant trumpeting noise…hoping to get a smile…to no avail….). So I tried a slightly different tact, “We had Special Guys at our house, too. A kitty and a horse. YOU have an elephant!” And then I kept on moving past, Daddy said good-bye, I waved.
And then the ever-so-brief and equally wonderful magic occurred. Miss 3? She adjusted her water bottle to her other arm with her Special Guys, keeping her eyes on me the entire time, then waved. AND smiled. I walked backwards and continued my waving to her, she continued her bright-eyed smile and little wave back at me. It filled my heart.
Oh how wonderful! By simply engaging from a “sideways” manner of talking less to HER and more just about my daughters’ special guys, she felt safe enough to respond. Just like Mr. Exuberant 4.5 who, though ever-so-openly engaged initially, found his comfort zone behind a wall and discovering Lego was a favorite of mine…
It fills me, this connection with little ones. Today I hope you’ll pause enough to truly connect with another. Little ways or big ways. Notice and appreciate and be present to the bits of magic that happen ever-so-briefly at times. It truly can bring you JOY.
Alice
Author and Parent Coach
©2018 Alice Hanscam