HEALTHY KIDS · SEPTEMBER 2018
PINK GERMS
When my daughter was five she came home from pre-school one day talking about germs . Her teachers did such a good job of explaining germs to her that any time we ’ d ask for a sip of her juice , she would immediately pull her glass away and remind us of our germs .
Of course , though , when she ’ d want a sip of my drink , she would forget all about those contaminating germs .
One night she was eating a piece of chocolate cake , and I asked her for a taste . “ No , Mami !” you have germs . “ It ’ s okay ,” I explained . “ As long as no one is sick , we can share our food because we are a family and our germs get along . They ’ re like brothers and sisters . We all have different germs , but we can all live in the same house .”
“ No , Mami , that ’ s not right ,” she said . “ My teacher said that my germs can only be mine because I ’ m a girl and my germs are pink !” “ If your germs are pink , then what color germs does your papi have ?” I asked .
“ Green ,” she said with a giggle and then proceeded to explain the germ theory to us . I had pink germs because I ’ m a girl like her . Her brothers had orange germs , her grandparents had white germs , and PeeWee , my oldest son ’ s kitten , had pink germs because she liked him .
“ How do you know what color germs everyone has ?” I asked . “ Because my teacher tells me ,” she said .
Wow , different color germs ! How different the world would be if everything could be the shade of color we chose it to be . Children can make the everyday world full of wonder and mystery . They can make the most ordinary things seem magical .
Children live in the timelessness of the present . They have no worries , no responsibilities . Life is one joyful ride . They just hop on without worrying where it will take them .
They can spend hours playing with their favorite toy or swinging high into the air . They are like little mystics who can travel easily between the visible and invisible worlds . They haven ’ t been exposed to the boundaries of time and space . They always look for the rainbow and seldom worry about the storm . Once we ’ re adults it seems we spend our lives preparing for the storm . We worry about our families and sometimes about things that never come to be .
Maybe if we all just relaxed and kept an open mind , we ’ d find it easier to solve our problems .
As adults we can ’ t pretend things are what we want them to be , but sometimes we have to open ourselves up to all the possibilities that do exist . We need to view life through a wide-angle scope so that we don ’ t miss all that is around us .
Sometimes we get so caught up with finding a purpose to everything we do that we forget to ask ourselves why we ’ re doing it . Children live life with a source of wisdom and love that most of us lose in the process of getting older .
Pink was my daughter ’ s favorite color , so everything in her life was pink . I feel responsible for the role the color pink played in her life . After two sons , when she was born I looked forward to cute frilly pink outfits . No blue , no yellow , only pink . Maybe I overdid it .
Nevertheless , when she believed her germs were pink I let her . I knew that soon enough she ’ d realize that life is not always made of the shades of color we wish . Life has many different stages filled with vivid colors , some darker than others .
By Maria Luisa Salcines
8 HEALTHY MAGAZINE