Doing Something Right

Today was like every other this week. Wake up before the sun has even risen on the East Coast and go to my nanny job. So I can be there before or at least soon after the girls wake up. Its really quite fun actually, the girls are six and three so they have plenty of personality and are both really very bright.

I digress, but I heard somewhere at some point (I actually think it was Criminal Minds so don't take it as irrefutable fact), that all young children, if administered a psychological evaluation will test as sociopaths. Now granted their moral and empathetic development is a little slow, children still know right and wrong. They may not know why it's right or wrong, but they still know the difference.

The matching game we were playing.

What I was trying to get at  in a round about way, is that the girls are far from sociopaths. This morning while trying to kill a little time before taking her to preschool I was playing a matching game (Spot it!) with the three year old. I was letting her win, because even though it may not always seem like it, I do in fact know my alphabet. I know my alphabet in more than three languages (which means four) as a matter of fact. Can I speak those languages, you ask? Certainly Not. I barely speak my own mother tongue. Wow, I am seriously easily side tracked tonight, long day I guess.

Back to my story. As I was saying, I was voluntarily letting a three year old kick my rear. We were a little over half way through the game and she'd collected all the pairs thus far. We flipped a new set and like all the sets before I saw the pairing right away, red Ms, very big, very bold, an easy match. Yet she wasn't seeing it. It had been at least ten seconds and she still hadn't found the match. This just wasn't normal. She normally saw the pair withing five seconds at most. Glancing at her I saw she was watching me. She glanced at the cards then looked back up at me. It was so clear this sweet  little girl saw the match, she saw the pair, yet she was throwing me a metaphorical bone. Her parents were clearly doing something right because this little preschooler had enough moral fiber to give me a saving grace. She knew she was still going to win yet like I was letting her win, she was letting me not be completely wiped. Its rather humbling to see such an empathetic little child. I only hope that as she grows and the world beats down on her she doesn't become jaded and lose that sweet, giving nature that was willing to let  me save face even when it wasn't necessary.