My little tree hugger
So today, I looked outside to check up on Nathan who was playing in the backyard. What I saw was a despondent little boy sitting in the swing bawling his eyes out. I immediately ran out thinking he must have hurt himself or gotten stung by a bee. Instead I got this:
“Daddy is chopping down the bushes!”
“That’s what you’re crying about?”
“Yesssss!”
“Nathan, he’s not chopping them down. He’s just trimming them.”
“He’s KILLING them!
“No, honey. They are starting to look bad. He’s just taking away the parts that don’t look good.”
“I want him to stop!”
“Do you think it hurts the bushes when daddy cuts them?”
“YES!”
“How about when daddy cuts the lawn? Does the grass die? Is he hurting it?”
“Mommy, that’s different. That’s JUST grass. Daddy’s cutting the BUSHES!”
After much convincing Nathan calmed down. It never occurred to me that a child would think of a plant like he would a human or an animal. Looking at it through his eyes, I guess it does seem a bit barbaric. Glad to see my kid has a heart. Now if he’d only apply that concern to his brother and sister!
5 comments:
Awww... I had a favorite little hickory tree when I was a child. I cried and cried when my dad cut it down; he had NO idea til then that I had befriended it. Kids are SO much closer to God and what He intended us to be, don't you think? I wish their hearts could STAY that soft....
Now if Daddy were getting after one of his siblings, he probably could have cared less. But when he goes after the bushes...he cries. So stinkin' funny!
Aww, bless his tender heart! I wish mine would care about each other a little bit more, too. I suppose that's just the way of siblings.
That is the sweetest story Drew! I just love it! Hurting the bushes : ). I know when he gets older and goes away to college he will LOVE looking back at this story about his tender heart : ). Right?
Awww...that's sweet and so sad at the same time!
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