Our little crew took a road trip to Dallas this weekend. It was our longest drive yet as a family, and it was filled with the classic questions: “How much longer?” and “Are we there yet?” There had been a lot of build up about going to Dallas, and our 2 year old was trying to hang on as best he could.
As we drove over the freeway interchange he joyfully exclaimed, “I see Dallas!” We drove through several small towns and listened to “Oh no! We missed Dallas!” each time that we didn’t stop. As we got closer to our final destination, we began to talk about Aunt Nell and Uncle Brian’s house. “We are almost there,” we told them. “I don’t want to go to Aunt Nell’s house,” he said, “I want to go to Dallas.” We tried to explain that Aunt Nell and Uncle Brian live in Dallas, and we went round and round trying to make the abstract relevant.
When we pulled up to their house, our littlest one climbed out and marched up to the door. Aunt Nell opened it and was greeted with “I don’t want to go to your house. I want to go to Dallas!”
“You want to go to Dallas?” she asked.
“Yes!” came the response.
“Well, Dallas…” she began, “is upstairs.”
So in he marched.
Talk about a veteran parent move. Here we had been trying literally for hours to explain a concept he was never going to understand. She opened the door, met him right where he was, and instead of trying to get him into our world stepped right into his. Brilliant.
“Dallas” was lovely, and he enjoyed every minute.
Find the joy,
Jessica