Filter

I wish I didn't have a grown up filter. I spend last weekend celebrating a baby shower with my best friend and her family which included two very energetic children, 6 and 4. In the morning, I would ease out of bed and shuffle to the coffee pot to find that the kids were well into their day, sprinkling the living room floor with barbies and dinosaurs. As I managed a few cheerful words, they were full of energy bursting with random squeals of delight. “Play with me,” they asked, and next thing I knew I was catching butterflies with a net, dressing dolls and fighting with dinos. Considering the last time I spent time around young children was when my sister (who is now 20) was a baby, I felt a little rusty. Was I cool Aunt B? Was I lame when it came to dreaming up conversation between barbie and her horses?

One thing I couldn't help but notice and secretly envied was the fact that children really don't have filters. If they think something, they say it. If they want something, they ask. They don't hold back. I wondered at what age does this change? When do children catch on to the “socially accpetable” ways to communicate? When do we stop saying what we think and keep quiet merely to be “polite?” Who says what is polite?

To celebrate the oldest turning 6, we all were given instruments to join in the annual “Birthday parade.” Next thing I knew I was shaking bells in line behind other adults my age and older who were blowing horns, kazoos and other noise makers. It was freeing. We looked like crazy people and we were having a blast. With the birthday girl leading the way we pranced around the house clapping and singing.

My small conclusion was that I spend far too much time trying to “act cool” and far too much time not saying what I really think and feel. Thanks to a weekend of barbies and dinos, I am reminded to relax and have a little fun.