Babysitter One Day

Huan is the daughter of my friend Dr. Du. She is a sweat 7-year old girl full of curiosity. Everytime when Dr. Du needs to go to Indy to attend conference on Saturdays, she'll entrust Huan to my care. There is an old saying in China that "Even dogs will not like 7 or 8-year old kids", meaning that children at the age of 7 or 8 are most naughty and annoying; however, Huan is a lovable and sensible girl, although sometimes her insatiable curiosity really makes me unable to parry.

Normally when Huan is with me, I'll take her to Kroger or ride bicycle in the yard near my apartment, or just leave her alone watching cartoons on ipad which really makes me feel guilty. This time, I decide to take her to the movie theater to watch the newest animation "The Croods" which I already watched with my
roommate several days ago.

In the projection room, more than half of the audience are children together with their parents. And watching cartoons with those innocent kids are really sweat experience although sometimes a little bit noisy. They are so free to express their inner feelings and so easy to be touched. Immersed in the world of children's simplicity, I totally forgot about my stress and worries. When the movie is showing how much the dad missed his family and drew their pictures on the rock of the cave, I heard Huan crying. At first, I thought it was because her legs were caught in the chair and tried to help her out; and then Huan told me in a tearful voice that she cried because she was so touched by the scene. I was suddenly enlightened and took her in my arms to comfort her.

I enjoy being with kids. My roommate once asked me how to communicate with young children since for her they are different creatures coming from another star. I told her based on my own experiences that while you communicate with them, looking straight into their eyes, blocking the outside world and listening to what they are saying seriously. Playing with children is not just a relaxing but also a learning experiences. Their questions always remind me the simple beauty and miracles hidden in my daily life which I just ignored for a long time; their straightforwardness always makes me thinking why we adults make their life so complicated? Maybe we really need to play with young children more not because we need to carry out the obligations as parents or caregivers, but because we can learn the play "skills" from them.