The charm of children

There is something endearingly grounding about little children and the way they look at the world and express themselves. It’s something that us grown ups need to remember once in a while. Only recently I made a trek to foreign shores to catch up with my two American-lilted nieces, aged 2 and 3. This was the third time we had met, this time in their time zone, and after mere fleeting moments in the past, this time we had a full six days to get to know each other. And get to know each other we did. We played, we chatted, we watched fuzzy elephants speaking in strange voices on TV, we read bedtime stories that were over in minutes. I bought them the “Wall-E” DVD and all manner of brightly coloured clothes and chattels for little people.

And every one of us will quite happily swear to you that their nephew or niece is the cutest little thing that you ever did see. But this time it’s true. They are the cutest little things that I ever did see. Anyhow, one day, as I was chewing the fat with their mother, the older of the two piped up out of the blue. “You know that I love you, uncle.” She didn’t even look up, merely continued stroking her blue bear. This was enough to bring a smile to my face. You see, it was such an uncomplicated connection. So innocent. And yet so simple.