On Food and Four Year Olds (or somewhere around that age)

Eating out at Taco Bell while shopping, I have a burrito filled with saucy taco meat that’s supposed to be a cheesy potato burrito. The only thing is that all the potatoes have dropped to the bottom of it so it’s mostly a taco in a soft shell. As a side dish I also have a bag of Doritos. Sounds pretty good, right? Fast forward to the evening where I decide to go and help out at my church’s VBS. There’s a meal served beforehand for everyone. On the way there Mom comments that she had heard that they’d be serving walking tacos sometime. All I have in response is “they better not tonight!” And what do I find when I get through the long line of kids? Walking tacos. Looking at the people’s plates in line ahead of me, it looks like my burrito from lunch threw up on an exploded bag of Doritos. Once is pretty good… but twice? I decide to skip. One thing I’m always thankful for is the fact that when I’m surrounded by large groups of humans, I never really feel hungry. I’m always too interested in what’s going on around me. Once, while working from 4 am to 4 pm at a concession stand, I got by on only one hot dog and a few sips of water (this is mainly because they didn’t have time to serve us workers breakfast!) I was fine. Up until we got into our van heading home. My hands were shaking as I ripped open the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup that we were rewarded with at the end of the day. Best tasting Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ever.

Enough about food now. For the whole evening I was a helper for the preschooler group, which I had heard had been short on help. It doesn’t take me long to figure out who’s the most difficult one; I decide the best help I can be is to stick mainly to watching him. Everybody else seemed exasperated with him. He’d lie on the ground during the lesson and make humming noises. He’d steal way more candy than what was directed, then run in circles around the group like a little candy pirate. And whenever he felt like it, he’d just get up and go somewhere else, no matter what was happening. But honestly? I had fun watching him and chasing him down. He’d look at me, big blue eyes half innocent, half devilish and give me a questioning grin. And although I knew I shouldn’t most of the time, I’d laugh right along with him. That’s the thing with me (and why I make a terrible babysitter), I view kids as more of an entertainment than a responsibility. Most of the time I feel more like standing back and laughing at the trouble they cause, or even joining in with them! While other girls seem to feel responsible to be the temporary mother and get them to behave. It’s like I overheard my friend say while the kids were wildly throwing balls around outside; “it’s pretty funny until someone gets hurt. Then it’s really funny!” Don’t mean to sound heartless, but I gotta admit, it’s true!