Momnesia

Children May be Born Empathetic - But Teaching it is Still Important

We've inadvertently pawned Emmie off on relatives for half the summer, it seems. I worry that her memories of this year will be a blur of new faces and random bodies of water.

But today she showed me one reason that so many of our relatives volunteer their time and energy in caring for her.

Nona and I went dollar store shopping, and came back with a pile of crap for Emmie: coloring books, Pop Rocks, a silvery princess balloon, and a bag of Ring Pops. She was sweetly excited: "Dats for ME?! DANKS, Mama!"

And then she delved into her treats. She poured the Pop Rocks into her mouth and the Ring Pops on the table. There were four rings, and five people in the room. She handed one to Opa, one to Nona, one to Scott, and picked up the last ring pop from the table. I saw her hesitate briefly, realizing that she had but the one remaining, and then she smiled brightly and handed it to me.

"You are so sweet, baby, but mommy wants you to have the Ring Pop," I said. But she tried to put it into my hands.

"Honey, take this one," Nona said. Emmie took it, and still tried to give me hers.

I shook my head, gathered the other two pops, and handed them to her.

"Thank you so much for sharing with us, darling, but we want you to have these. You are so good to share."

Instead, she held up her packet of Pop Rocks, starting the process over again.

I worry that, as an only child, Emmie will not have the kind of empathy that we want her to enjoy in life. But I think, maybe, she could be okay...


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