Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Trust

I'm often amazed at how trusting children are. The way both of my girls, when they were much smaller, would just lean back in my arms, trusting me to hold on to them.

They trust us to feed them, clothe them, seek out the best schools, find the right doctors, the best care-givers.

We know they trust us to do these things but it's not often that this trust is truly conveyed to us.

Last week, my mom and Olivia were looking through a magazine together.

They came across a little girl, probably about five years old, who had her hair standing on end, as if she'd just removed her hat and had major static hair.

The little girl's face was one of annoyance and disgust.

Olivia asked my mom, "What's wrong with that little girl?"

My mom decided to make something up. She said, "I think she's mad at her mommy for doing to that to her hair."

Olivia looked back at the picture and stared solemnly at it for a few seconds and then said very seriously, "My mom would never do that to me."

When my mom told me this story, it took my breath away.

Olivia's conviction, her unbending belief that I have, and will always have her best interest at heart is heartening as well as, well, sort of intimidating. Talk about responsibility.

But she's right. I wouldn't do that to her. I wouldn't do something to her that I know would embarrass her, not deliberately. Almost everything I do, I do because I hope it will make my girls' lives better. I work because I want to take care of them, I buy groceries I hope will help them maintain good health. They deserve this and I want to do all this for them. It's what being a mom is about for me.

This weekend, I gave her hair a trim. Just a little off the right side to even it up with the left side, which is pretty short these days from the pulling. The right had gotten so long that there was one curl that was sticking straight out about two inches right above her ear. So trim it we did.

As I was getting ready snip that curl, she asked, concerned, "Are you cutting my hair?"

I explained that I was just trimming a little. I told her she wouldn't even be able to tell and that it was going to look beautiful when I was done.

She trusted me.

Of course, she also checked herself out in the mirror afterward, making sure I'd done a good job. She nodded her approval when it was all over and ran off to find her sister.

The trust of a child is limitless and priceless.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I dont' always comment on your blogs, but I LOVE reading them! especially this one. There's a lot of stuff I have to do to Quinn that hurts her, but she trusts me and it IS priceless to have trust like that. Often, I wish I still had that kind of trust in others, the kind that she has in me.