Picture this:
Salt Lake City International Airport, many people and a great deal of Security. I have an innate desire to compliment and make others feel good about themselves. That includes children. I love to be playful and as an educator, a primary worker and an aunt, I thought I had a unique gift with children. Not today. There across the way was a charming and very captivating little girl. If I had not known better, I would have believed "Goldilocks" had just stepped out of the infamous children's book. There they were, the most perfectly formed golden locks of hair. I have always envied the loose natural curls of others. I could not resist. I walked up to the little darling and said, "You have the most beautiful hair I have ever seen. Where did you get such gorgeous curls?" There was no "Thank you." Not even an "I know." Her face became distorted. She stomped her foot and sharply pointed her finger at me and then screeched at the top of those little girl lungs..."STRANGER...STRANGER. STRANGER. STRANGER." I was totally taken off guard and as I glanced around, everyone's eyes seemed to be upon me. I tried to tell Goldilocks here that I simply wanted to tell her how cute I thought she was but the more I talked, the louder the volume...humiliation and embarrassment.
(I do not know this little girl. I found her image on google...but this is almost identical to the golden curls I saw. The girl at the airport was a little bit younger and this will at least give one an idea of why I could not resist saying something.)
On Sundays, I would lead the singing in Primary. For the most part, the children enjoyed coming to Primary. There was one little girl that appeared to be terrified of Primary. She would cry and eventually be returned to her parents in another room. One day, she had come in to the Primary Room with her father. She sat on his lap in the very back as if to ease her into the routine of Primary. The rest of the children were singing and enjoying "Pick and Choose." It just so happened that the next name that I selected from the box of names, was that of the little girl. Here was my chance to show her how fun how absolutely safe and fun Primary could be. With much prodding and convincing she slowly walked to the front of the room. This enchanting princess of a girl had corn rows and hundreds of dark braids all over her pretty little head.
I bent down to help her post something on the board. I stood up to send her back with dad. The button on my sweater had become caught in her hair. I could not stand up. She tried to walk away and felt the tug on her head. All I could do was hover over her. No one could quite figure out what I was doing. The little girl began screaming and crying. I began to panic feeling that I was making her Primary experience a trauma. I offered comforting words and then asked for help. Clearly, dad could not assist because of the location of the offending button. One of the women from the Presidency came up and rescued the screaming child. I felt like such an idiot! The little girl was carried back to her seat (not by me) crying hysterically. I tried to regain composure and get my group of singers singing again. All I could think was really? Did that just really happen. Yes...yes it did happen and it would not be the end of my gaffes.
No comments:
Post a Comment