From the eyes of a 4-year-old!

“Oh, wow! It’s morning, I can eat ice cream”. Tini just woke up from bed dreaming about eating her favorite ice cream all night. She quickly freshens herself up, too much duty for a 4-year-old already, but she is keen on her goal just like any other 4-year-olds.

Tini joins her baby sister for breakfast while their papa is busy cooking scrambled eggs for them. Now she feels like a grown up already making wise choices and says, “Good Morning Papa, I want to eat ice cream!”, with excitement in her brownish black eyes. Papa’s jaw dropped and immediately said, “Ice cream tastes amazing in the afternoon, and we can have one on your way back home from kindergarten”.

“But!” (4-year-olds are grown up enough to always start their sentences with “but” – talent to already reason things out that they pick up instantly). “I want to eat ice cream, I have seen people eating ice cream when the sun is out” , says Tini.

“Yes, right, when it’s a bright sunny day we have seen people eating ice cream, but now isn’t it breakfast time?!” asked mama. With tears rolling down her eyes along with gushing emotional disappointment, Tini screams out, “I want ice cream now!”. Mama gently goes beside Tini and asks, “Did papa promise ice cream on the way back home in the afternoon?”. Tini nodded her head yes, and mama assured her, “then, let’s do that, so you can walk up to the counter in the shop and then pick your favorite flavor all by yourself”.

Half convinced and half still disappointed, Tini finishes her breakfast and is off to kindergarten with her baby sister and papa. The day passed by in the kindergarten and mama came around to pick up Tini and her baby sister. With excited big brown eyes, shouted Tini, “Now it’s time for ice cream!”. Mama smiles and nods, and they start walking towards the ice cream shop. On their way, Tini is gazing at people on the street with a curious 4-year-old mind, taking in all that she can and observing things, even if it is ice cream, the only target. She picks her favorite flavor – vanilla with strawberry syrup and a lot of colorful sprinkles at the top and, of course, in a waffle and not in a cup.

With every lick of the ice cream, the 4-year-old gets more and more curious:

„Mama, why does the shopkeeper smile at me?“

„Mama, there is a man with a dog here. Does he like ice cream?!“

„Mama, do you want to try?“

„Mama, I love this flavor!“

„Mama, even Papa loves this flavor but without sprinkles.“

And on and on.

From the eyes of a 4-year-old, we learn to live and take in each moment at a time slowly and keenly and stay happy with small wins. However, we do as well make them hold back big emotions at times, hoping for fruitful benefits one day, but do we keep up the promises? I suppose we do, if not keep trying to keep up the promises!