William Blake is famous for his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience poetry. To give a simplified explanation of his views, I'd say that he believes children are born innocent, then life happens and they grow into experienced (and often bitter, cynical, jaded, corrupt) adults.
Blake is a gifted writer, but there's one thing I strongly disagree with him about (actually, there are several things, but we won't go into all of them right now). Children are so NOT innocent. They're little heathens. And my little sinner is already showing me evidence of the selfish human nature he was born with.
Today, for example, Perrin scooted himself across the floor and found my laptop power cord. He reached out for it to take a little taste, and I grabbed it away from him and said firmly, "No." We did this about five times, and when Perrin realized I really wasn't going to change my mind, he flopped on his back, threw his arms and legs out, and screamed as if I'd shot him with an arrow or something. (On a side note, I didn't think I'd have to deal with temper tantrums until he was at least two or so... I guess we're getting an early start. ::sigh::)
I know some people would say, "But he's just a baby; it's not like he knows that he's doing something wrong." That's sort of true. But he knew he wanted to eat the power cord. He knew I didn't want to let him eat the power cord. And he threw a fit because he didn't get his way. Does that sound innocent? I don't think so. Granted, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. But it's interesting to see that a baby who can't even walk or talk or feed himself can still exert his self-will.
I love my little sinner. He's cute and smart and wonderful. But he's not innocent.
Piper and I have that same issue daily. Why are laptop cords so delicious looking?
ReplyDeleteAnd you know how the saying goes, "you don't have to teach your kids to misbehave!"
I really like this post, Jayna. Good work. :)