Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Carrot Soup


I am sure that most of us have heard the cliche, "out of the mouths of babes". When I hear that phrase, it reminds me of the innocence and no-nonsense advice that children often give us to allow us to live our lives in more simple and fulfilling ways. We often forget just how intelligent these little mirrors of ourselves actually are. Today, I thought I would share something my four year old daughter came up with. If nothing else, it may make you smile more often throughout your day today.

My kids love to play in our pool. Swimming is only one of the fun activities that actually take place. Recently, my children were playing "restaurant" with water by the pool edge. My daughter, Rachel, was three at the time (she just turned four last week!).She decided the the daily soup special would be 'Carrot Soup'. The only question that my son asked her was to tell him what exactly had to go in the soup, as he was the "server" and she was the "chef". I happened to be working poolside at the time, and began to take notes of what she listed off as it definitely caught my attention. Each ingredient she listed also had a specific purpose that she shared without any prompting. The following list is her ingredients in her own words and in the order in which she provided them.

Rachels' Carrot Soup
Ingredients:
CARROTS! - because they give kids and mommies and daddies self - esteem (I didn't even know she knew this word!). Carrots also have pride in them and just a little sweetness.
Lettuce - goes into your eyes to help you pay attention
Basil and Salt - give you confidence (she knew what basil was from us making spaghetti and pizza sauce together)
Vinegar - it's sour Christian (my son), so it gets rid of stinkin' thinkin' (Oh! Zig Ziglar would be proud!!)
Water - extra carrots and a tiny bit of chicken - because water is the base of everything so it should always be the base of our soup
Green Beans - because they have super power in them and that makes up super heroes who can so anything we really want to do
Method:
Then, it needs to be all mixed up together and baked so it weaves together. If we eat it, we can weave our world too.

No lie...these were all her exact words and thoughts and she never missed a beat in the game. :)

As she moved on to serving her customers her fresh Carrot Soup in the game, all my thoughts consisted of was WOW! I looked over the notes I had taken and began to wonder, no what does this show me?

First, it serves as a reminder that are kids are always listening - even when we don't realize it. As someone who works in personal development, our conversations often surround that subject. In our house, positive development through loving life and each other always comes first. Believing that you can never truly love another without loving yourself first, my husband and I allow our kids to be themselves and to celebrate how unique they are. Not patting ourselves on the back here, but hopefully we have had some positive influence. We all want 'happiness', but frequently we forget how much our subtle actions and conversations really 'get in the heads' of those around us. Maybe if we all spent more time making carrot soup and were a bit more conscious of our words and actions, there would be a lot more smiling people in the world. From the mouth of a three year old, remember to be positive, pay attention, take pride in who you are and share a little sweetness with everyone so you can be a superhero too! Oh...and those green beans and carrots just might keep you a bit more healthy too!

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