A Flower or A Weed?

I don’t know about you- but I enjoy flowers. 

My oldest daughter used to pick me flowers when she was little and it always warmed my heart. 

I can remember being a young mom with my two small girls. The oldest was four and the youngest was a newborn with colic. 

I had some long days and have to say that when the older one would come to me with a fistful of flowers, and for no apparent reason but that she just wanted to, it didn’t matter how squished and wilted they were, it always made me smile.

Now-a-days it’s my son who likes to bring me the bouquets.

We can be on a path in the woods, playing in the yard, or at the park. He loves picking flowers and giving them to Mommy. 

I am always grateful and he always seems so proud. 

It could be a butter cup, a petunia head that has fallen off of a hanging flower pot, or even a weed.

You know the weeds I’m talking about. 

The ones that begin as fluffy wisps of seeds on a stem and turn into bright, abundant little Dandelions. 

A weed? Technically yes. But to a child it's a beautiful bright yellow flower that is free for the taking and will bring a smile to Mommy’s face...

So... if doing this brings such joy for both the adult and the child, tell me why then some grownups spoil the moment by rolling their eyes and degrading the flower to a weed right in front of the child?

I’ve experience this multiple times this spring. 

After my son proudly picked me an array of little flowers, we'd walk by some folks enjoying the warm day, and here come the comments on how icky it is that my child picked me weeds...

It leaves the child puzzled. Weeds to him are brown, ugly and terrible…they are something that nobody wants…the bouquet is not that...

Granted many of us do not want dandelions speckling our green lawns, but from a child's perspective, they are wonderful gifts they can give.

So the next time your child, niece, nephew or grandbaby hands you a fistful of dandelions, no need to say it’s a weed.

Instead look at them as if them and imagine they are the largest, most extravagant, fragrant bouquet of flowers you've ever seen! 

Because after all, that is what the child sees.

(Change your adult perspective to a child's perspective once in a while...see life through their eyes and then watch the world change...)

Truly,
Amber

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