Kaiden, Can You Say, " . . . "

Our two year-old nephew, Kaiden, visited us this past weekend. On a number of occasions, I found myself starting a sentence with the phrase: "Kaiden can you say . . ." Then I would go on to say something that I either thought he should say or imagine that he might say.

It's something we all do, especially with kids and pets. I have noticed myself say that around other kids, especially relatives. And I notice myself say that with our dog, too: "Jane can you say . . ."

Most often we say this to be funny or with something light-hearted. But saying the phrase got me to thinking that we could very easily use phrases like this to insert things that we think kids (or pets) should do or think or say, regardless of whether or not that is something they would actually, themselves, say.

Now sure, that is over-thinking this whole thing a bit. And many, many times, that is not the case. But there is some truth there. We do need to make sure we are nurturing and helping young people, or pets for that matter, grow and mature into the people that they truly are and not always necessarily the people we think they should become.

Good thing we don't do that with adults . . . or do we?