I got home from work today and my family was buzzing with excitement. Eli and Buddy (our 5 year old foster child) ran up to me as I came in the door, eagerly spitting out their funny little kid words surrounding the idea that we were going to the park to hear the music and it was going to be awesome. I quickly agreed that it was going to rock and then reminded them that we needed to eat dinner first…and then we could go. It’s amazing how the promise of pleasure enables even the scrappiest of toddlers the ability to tow the line for a moment:)

We happily ate our speghetti (thanks Rebecca!) and talked about the day and made our coined noise associated with delicious food….”WoooHooo..YUM YUM!” over and over again. They boys finished pretty quickly and Rebecca and I took a minute to catch out breath at the table as they began running around the house like crazy people. As we started gathering the bag, stroller, chairs beverages etc…for our journey, we suddenly heard an Eli scream followed my some panic from Buddy.

We rushed in to see what had happened and quickly found that Eli had fell into the corner of something as he buzzed by, leaving a pretty serious scrape. Buddy is five, so we asked him what happened but he was very upset by the accident, and the fact that his friend was hurt. He wasn’t able to articulate what happened as he was welling up with tears himself. Finally, in the middle of a long moan, Eli gestured toward the child safety gate that was guilty of scraping him. He glared at it like it just kicked his puppy and explained that he fell into it. As we talked about it, he quickly began regaining composure and remembering that we were about to leave for the park to watch the concert. In less than three minutes from the time of the accident, Eli was back to his normal silly willy self and ready to walk to the concert.

I paint this picture because it’s one we have all seen. We see kids conquer things and overcome hurdles and it moves us to the point that we share with others. More than any other feedback, we are responded to with the simple truth…”kids are so resilient”. It’s among the truest things ever said that kids are remarkably resilient.

I submit the following….

Kids are resilient, often because they have a keener understanding of what matters. Eli (without consciously knowing it) quickly gathered, that if he let this scrape get the best of him, he would end up missing the concert at the park. Because he stayed focused on the prize, he was able to overcome much. He proceeded to have a great time with Buddy and his grandparents (and us) at the concert.

When kids look forward to something, they are infused with special tenacity and resilience and ability, that enables them to realize that which they look forward to.

As I changed Eli out of his clothes and into his pajamas this evening, the scrape jumped out at me and so did it’s accompanying lesson….

“We would do well to make sure we are always looking forward to something wonderful, because that hope will deliver great tenacity and resilience and ability, and these things enable us to realize that which we hope for.”