I noticed years ago that while a parent may look through me or around me, children--especially the little ones--always look at my face. I read somewhere that babies are genetically programmed to look at human faces. It must be true. So, I always look back and smile. Most of the time they respond with a smile of their own, even the very small ones. Occasionally a parent will notice and acknowledge me with a smile, but often it is just the child and me.
Try it. It is pretty cool and there is nothing like receiving a bright, happy smile from a little one.
5 comments:
how true, most adults are too busy rushing through their own lives to bother to look at others. sad...
I do the same thing. But then I read faces. I may never know what someone is wearing, but I can tell you what they were thinking of feeling by their facial expressions.
I can't help myself. I do the same. It must be the teacher in us all.
I enjoy smiling at young children, too. Just recently I was walking through the parking lot of a Target, and a mother, grandmother, and young child were getting out of their car. The baby was in his mother's arms, back-to to her but facing me. I smiled at the baby, and he responded by smiling and saying "hi" to me. I didn't think much of it until I'd passed the three of them and heard the mother say to the grandmother, "He just said 'hi'! Did you hear him? He said 'hi' to that lady!" Apparently the baby had said his first word, or said "hi" for the first time, at least, and I was the lucky recipient of his greeting.
There's a great short story called "I Stand Here Ironing," by Tillie Olsen. It's about a stressed-out, over-taxed mother who is looking back on her child-rearing and wondering where she "went wrong" with her child. In one scene, she and her child, then very small, are riding on a bus or train. The passenger next to them turns to the stressed mother and says, "Smile at her. Smile." I've often thought about that scene. It's sometimes easy to tell which people were smiled at by their parents and which ones weren't, isn't it?
It's true. I tend to speak to the children first too. I agree with Kay. It must be the teacher in us.
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