Estimated reading time: 2 minute(s)

Quick story before bed…

Tonight I was talking to Julia (our almost two-year-old) about an event at lunch today. The lady behind the cash register thought Julia was a very cute baby (turns out she has a two-year-old of her own) and just gave her a friendly greeting. Well, Julia who is normally very friendly decided to not reply to this person, and hid her head in Dad’s shoulder. A few attempts to get a response from her were in vain.

Finally, as we were leaving, she mustered a smile. (Maybe it was the free toy [read:bribe] that the lady handed out…)

That was the end of that, and I apologized for Julia, but of course the cashier thought nothing of it. “I have a two year old, also!”

So fast forward to the dinner table. I told Mom the story, half re-telling it to Joodles. She was listening intently (people don’t give two year olds enough credit!) and finally I repeated what had happened (acted it out) and Julia sort of laughed, but then I asked her if she would like it if someone did that to her? Surprisingly, she immediately said, “Nooooooo!” I think she really did understand (though I know there will be PLENTY more training to come…) 🙂

It was pretty amazing to see how even at not-quite-two, Julia understood the concept of, “Treat other people the way you want to be treated.” And right there I said, “It’s so crazy how simple the idea is… every thing is better when we think of other people that way… but how hard it is to actually do it.”

Even when you’re one.