Isaiah: My newest friend.

[grumpy]

My son Myron, his friend Josh, Josh's lady-friend, and a 2year old boy
came to visit last evening. They wanted to see the rabbits. The
young mother was apprehensive about her boy and his behavior.
His name was Isaiah.She was carrying the young boy. He acted very excited.

I asked, "Can he walk?" She nodded, and I replied. "Then, put him down."
She started to sputter.....I glared, "Put the boy down." She did.

I crooked my finger at him to come to me. He did. "You gonna be good?"
He grinned and shook his head, "yes". I held out a single finger and
spoke. "All right then, let's go." He grasped my finger and off we
went down the rows of cages filled with rabbits of all sizes.

I heard Myron and Josh in the background telling the young mother.
"Stay out of it..........Let the old man handle it. Just watch."

He'd begin to get loud, "Gotta be quiet...you'll scare the bunnies. ok?"
He'd grin, nod, and we'd walk once again.

Several times, I had to stop our walk, kneel down and explain what he
was doing wrong. Always, he'd smile, nod his head and agree.
We came to a pen where the doe had just delivered some babies.
I took out a 2-day old baby rabbit so Isaiah could touch it.
His grin covered his face when I put the tiny bundle of life into
the cupped palms of his hands.

His mother came running, "Oh no!...He may squeeze and kill it!!"

I got a little irritated and spoke. "Do you "think" I've never lost one of
these newborns? Let "ME" handle this please." Quietly, she re-joined
the two young men near the door. Isaiah and I continued our tour.
But not before he softly kissed the baby rabbit on the head and
handed it back to me. We went all the way down one side and back
up the other before we got to the three young adults waiting on us.
He and I had a really good visit. Of course, his language was a little
tough to understand, but we got along quite well. I noticed his
mother's eyes when we were finished.

She said, "I'll "pay" you to keep my son for a week. How much do you want?"

I laughed and declined. Isaiah and I said our "high-five" good-bye.

 

[MaggieJ]

Nice story, Grumpy!

Sounds to me like that young mother is a bit overwhelmed and overly anxious to make sure her little boy doesn't annoy anyone. I hope she gains confidence as time goes on. You set her a good example... maybe you should give parenting lessons.

 

[Skyrocket]

This post speaks volumes because I know many of my friends from high school now have two or three children (while I sit here with my rabbits and my canines happily). They can be really...well, like that young mother and I go back to when I was being raised and can only shake my head. Kids can't even play in the mud now days. I loved the mud. Sometimes they come to me like "what should I do" and I tell them what I would do and sometimes they guffaw like I'm dense other times they take the advice and run with it. I prefer when they run with it.

Good story. c:

 

[AmysMacdog]

Grumpy you are awesome, bet that lil boy will never forget you and the rabbits.

 

[the reluctant farmer]

What an amazing time that must have been for the little guy! Sometimes we parents spend so much time trying focusing on what our kids might do wrong that we forget to let them do anything at all. I loved how you would tell him if he was not behaving the way he needed to and then gave him the chance to practice doing it right. Another thing we parents can forget to do--too quick to criticize or make an excuse but not let the child learn what to do and succeed. Nice story--thanks for sharing!

 

[Featherhoof]

I liked the story. Thanks Grumpy.