September 7, 2015 - 10:10
I have 2 nephews and one niece who I have babysat often in the past, I love children because they have such a skewed perception of the world around them that makes for interesting conversation between us. A couple of months ago I watched my five-year-old niece because I was leaving soon and wanted to spend individual time with each of them. When I was watching my niece a conversation of age and being grown up came up, she didn't quite comprehend how much older I was than her. The conversation went like this
Amarah: "Meghan when I start school, will I go to school with you?"
Me: "No, because I'm in College now, and you're in elementary school."
Amarah: "Oh. How come I can't go to school with you though I'm big like you?"
Me: "How old do you think I am?"
Amarah: "Eight."
Me: "No... I'm seventeen."
Amarah: "Oh."
The conversation ended there and we went back to playing the game of house and calling each other on our fake telephones asking each other to come to our cat's birthday party. I found two things interesting in this interaction between Amarah and I. One thing was how she thought she was nearly as big as me, or as grown up as I am. I was feet taller, ages older, and didn't have to be taken to the bathroom everytime we were in a grocery store. The way I described and perceived being older and bigger were clearly very different than her perception of being "big." The second point about this conversation that struck me was why she thought that I was eight years old. Amarah knows how to count very well and her older brother is eight, in regards to height and size and how age is perceived by her I am eight, but how it is perceived "correctly," by the rest of the world, including myself, I am seventeen. The whole premise of this conversation is that she probably thought I was eight because she wanted me to be young like she was, I'm the cool older person who still plays ring around the rosy with her and watches Frozen no matter how many times I've seen it. (I've lost count.) Maybe her perception of age and being "grown up," in connection with not how many differences we have but rather our similarities and what we have in common and share our love for.