Slapped in the Face by an Eight Year Old & The Baby NSA

So I've mentioned that I work at a before school program.  Glorified babysitter, basically, though I try to be mindful about it and you know.. teach/show them things.  I've gotten better at thinking about what I say before I say it, since we all know little kids are secretly listening to everything everyone around them says and storing it for later.  They're like the baby version of the NSA. 

This whole being mindful and encouraging and pointing out the good in each kid started last year.  

I felt absolutely awful after a conversation my coworker and I had with a few kids.  One of them asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, and since we both really couldn't answer, we sassed it up.

"Fabulous."

"Awesome."

"Skinny."

Eek.  It kills me that I said that.  It kind of just became my coworker and I joking with each other, and it came out.  (I believe we had been talking about working out and stuff that morning, so it was in my mind.)

What I forgot was the rest of the audience.  A bunch of little kids, some girls, hearing someone they look up to say that a great life ambition was to be skinny.  I can't explain how crappy I felt about it after I said it.  From that point on, I made a huge effort to watch what I say and to be a big ball of positive for them.  Half the time I'm super stressed about my life so I am totally faking my happy go lucky attitude, but "fake it til you make it," right?? 

So the other day at work, we put on some music.  One Direction.  I was jamming out of course.  But, I was purposely making my voice sound ridiculous, like I always do if I'm singing in front of people.  A little girl said something sassy about me not becoming a famous singer, and I laughed and said, "Hey!  When I was younger I actually could sing.  I was in select choir and everything!  I can still be famous if I want!"  When she asked me why I stopped singing and stuff, I was like, "Well, I never had a lot of confidence in myself, and it got worse as I got older."  

Then I told her that her killer diller confidence is my favorite thing about her and that she should stay that way and never be afraid to do something she feels is right for her. 

And that's when I got slapped in the face by an eight year old boy.  (Not actually, physically slapped.)  He was sitting across the table from us and he threw his hands in the air and shook his head all crazy-like and made a "WHAT?!?!" face and said, "How can you tell us that?  Why don't you have confidence in yourself?!" 

Which is when I gave some half-ass response and made a joke, since laying on the floor and throwing a tantrum and saying "I don't knoooooow, it's not my fault!  Leave me alone!" wasn't an option. 

Really though, it's something I'm working on.  The fact that I am even writing this encounter on here shows me that.  I probably should have given him a better answer. 

Really though, sometimes I think kids are way smarter than us.

And since I wanted to include a picture, enjoy this throwback.  My cousin and I were so cool.  He passed away doing something he loved.  I think a lot of us need to remember to do what we want more often.

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Charlotte