- You’re wearing the same shoes as her.
- You have fun hair.
- You let her style your hair.
- Your favourite colour is purple.
- You also like yellow. And red. And orange. And blue. And green. And brown. And black.
- You’re fun.
- You tell stories.
- You tell jokes.
- You have chocolate.
- You know all the words to the watermelon song.
- You like singing.
- You like clapping.
- You like dancing ‘ballet’.
- You like whizzy dizzies.
- You colour inside the lines.
- You colour outside the lines occasionally.
- You speak to her imaginary friend.
- You are careful not to sit on her imaginary friend.
- You’ve set up a pretend flower shop at the playground.
- You know the names of flowers (or can invent credible names on the spot).
- You say her name in a funny way.
- You pull funny faces.
- You have a bucket and spade.
- You’re happy.
- You’re sad.
- You need a cuddle.
- You’re at the park.
- You’re anywhere she might catch sight of you.
- For any reason at all.
- For no reason whatsoever.
Remember when friendships were this simple? This uncomplicated? This unpoliticised?
No. Me neither. KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Time to learn another lesson from my toddler. Anyone can be a friend.
What have you learnt from your three-year-old? How does your child make friends?
I love how young kids don’t see gender. My 4 year old loves the girls, especially the ones who play in the dirt like he does, and doesn’t see them as any different. I wonder when the boy/girl thing comes into play and they start to seperate like the adults.
Yeah, it’s sweet! Ashleigh sees gender, but it doesn’t yet influence her friend-making decisions. Yet.
Just teach her to be a little careful with strangers. How to do that without losing her precious innocence is a bit tricky.
It’s so tricky, isn’t it? Everything’s a tightrope in this parenting game.
I love how kids don’t complicate things. They’re just so honest and beautiful. They see the beauty in everyone.
They do indeed.
Too cute! Much of this rings true for my {little} Big Girl. I love how they view the world.
Oh, to bottle that innocence!
I love this !! Really the only criteria my kids had for whether you are a friend or not is if they can see you. In my sight= best friend.
Thanks for the giggle xx
Absolutely! In sight and willing to play. Willingness to play negotiable.
I posted something similar a while ago, well, a similar message. Kids don’t care, they’ll play with/talk to whoever is around. Imagine if grown up life was like that? If you could walk into a restaurant on your own and sit with anyone, and not care what they looked like or did for a living or if you even knew them!?
I like the restaurant idea. Or even just start talking to whomever you end up sitting next to on public transport.
I blogged about this a while ago too. How wonderful would it be if adults could be as judgment free as children? We can surely learn a lot from our young ones
I could retitle this blog ‘You learn something new from your kids every day’!
Your three year old thinks I am like a total groover. 😉 She should get together with my (almost) 4 year old. What a dynamic duo!
BTW – are you in Sydney? Bloggers drinks at The Ivy on 18th October!
They would have a blast! And thanks for the invite. But as you discovered, I’m in Melbourne. Would love to meet you! x
Oh – just read your “About” page. I see you are in Melbourne.
This is just beautiful. The simplicity of children is awesome isn’t it?
They just live in the moment. In their own worlds. Love it.
I had to giggle at this post because I thought you were writing about my daughter! Simplicity is so hard to come by but sometimes you just have to look at your children to get a lesson.
Glad it struck a chord!
Gosh, that innocence and that unconditional, full acceptance! My boys just go up and introduce their trains or their planes to whoever they meet. It’s like, “Isn’t this toy cool? don’t you love it as much as I do???” Hilarious!
It’s funny, they’re either shy shy shy, or fearless. No middle ground!
Aww Em – I love it – if only adults were this awesome – thanks for the smile and laugh – I promise not to sit on any imaginary friends today xxx
I hope you didn’t squash anyone!!
This is fabulous. I also love the fact that when friendships go horribly wrong, they forget all about it 5 minutes later! I was watching my 5 year old playing with a little friend last week. Their game went: he falls over – she laughs. Over and over and over! So simple and so much fun. Love it.
Ah yes, that’s true. You’re my worst enemy… until now!
Oh bless. What a lovely post! And so true. Oh to have the perspective of a toddler once again!
I try sometimes. And then thoughts of washing, dinner, cleaning enter my mind… dagnammit.
They are so uncomplicated! It’s heaven 🙂
Heaven indeed.
Such a sweet list, love to hear how simply toddlers see things!
Thanks! I had a tonne more to add, but figured the point had been made! It really doesn’t take much to make friends at that age.
My three year is friends with anyone who’ll pass the time of day with her and answer endless questions. But you only become a ‘best’ friend when you come to her birthday party 😉
Ah, the endless questions. I’d love to revert to toddler-dom just to annoy someone ELSE with those questions!
So cute. My three year old is the same 🙂 I think our kids would be BFFs if they knew each other 🙂
Definitely! Everyone’s a BFF!
I love the simplicity of kids and how black and white everything is. They like you or they dont like – blunt but generally they can pick it pretty darn well. xx
That’s true. This list might be lovely, but the ‘why my 3yo doesn’t like you’ list would seem pretty petty!