How far will we go to get what we want? Here is a story about a cat, a girl and her CreaTee.
Part of being young is the combination of fear and fearlessness. In the background we hear the adults screaming “Don’t!” while the kid is busy reaching something high up, or putting up unwanted things up their noses. Then there is the good fear that we need to instil in kids, like eating their vegetables. :-)
Most kids love animals but some do have fears. Our household is a cat friendly space. We love talking about our furry babies to anyone who is willing to listen. Recently we had a 3 year old who came for a visit. Our cute little cat must have looked like a 300 kg tiger to this little girl. Everytime the cat would pass by, she would lift her leg up afraid she would be mauled by the cat’s cuteness. Kids are curious beings, maybe a little bit like cats. She observed but kept her distance.
While the adults were busy talking we kept the kids busy with paper and crayon. Not like it was planned, the little girl wanted to draw cats and elephants but she said she didn’t know how. As fate has it, of course those two animals are two of CreaTee’s stencil. Cats being our all time best seller of course. So out came the stencil and she started getting busy with her art.
A set of CreaTee kit was on the table, so of course she was curious about that. We showed her that she could design her own t-shirt with it. Honesty comes easily to a 3 year old. She basically said “I want to take that home”. This is when the best part of the evening came.
Her aunt heard this and teased her saying that if you want to take it home you have to say hi and pet the cat. One of the cats, Dodo was sitting comfortably on the couch. What did this 3 year old, I am afraid of cats did? She went to Dodo and pet her. All this for a CreaTee kit.
Kids, adults are fascinating that way. When we set our mind into something we are able to achieve it. Our fears are put aside. It is about determination and resilience. To achieve something sometimes we need that extra push from someone. With that extra push we insert some self determination to achieve what we want.
A child teaches us that the process isn’t a long wait. You want something, you do it. You don’t mull over it for too long. Of course as adults, our risk is a bit bigger than just petting a cat. Would we do it if it was a 300 kg tiger? We need to be smart but be comfortable to make changes.
Doing something for the first time is also a step in getting comfortable. We asked the little girl to do it for the video (because we are such adults that way!). We weren’t confident it was going to happen but that very short span of time she understood that the cat was not going to harm her, she literally took up a dare from her aunt and she got what she wanted and we got her on video!
People always say it is mind over matter. Well, it is. In a mind that is resolute nothing would be impossible from the smallest of things to the grandest of them all. Sometimes you should and can push beyond your comfort zone. A 3 year old reminded us of that.