Front Porch: Lessons from 4-year-olds

As I watched Adam toss his plastic Luigi action figure high in the air in the backyard of our Airbnb, I thought, this isn’t going to end well.

After raising four sons, I am very familiar with how rough play can lead to tears when a favorite toy breaks.

Our twin grandsons love anything Super Mario, so we purchased a Mario for Nick and a Luigi for Adam on our recent visit.

Four is a magical age, and the twins relish make-believe. Before seeing if Luigi could fly, Adam had lined him up with several other toys and “shared” his picnic lunch with them.

Now, Adam ran up to my chair, Luigi in one hand and one of the toy’s legs in the other.

“Weegee (Luigi) broke leg, Nana!” he said.

A quick glance revealed the break was inoperable, but we took it to “Dr. Papa” to see if some super glue would help.

It didn’t.

I braced for Adam’s disappointed sobs. Instead, my grandson patted my arm.

“It’s OK, Nana. He’s zombie Weegee!”

And off he dashed with his zombified toy.

That’s adaptability. You can learn that and a lot more from a 4-year-old if you pay attention. Here are a few more things I learned from my grandsons.

• Singing makes everything happier—even waking up when you’re a morning-averse Nana.

During our trip, the twins stayed with us overnight for the first time. We woke up on the morning of our 38th wedding anniversary to the sound of them singing “Old McDonald” in the room next door. And even mundane highway drives become fun if you sing “London Bridge” loudly every time you cross something even remotely bridge-like.

• The old “one for me, one for you” still works.

Especially when divvying up something they both covet— like marbles for the marble run toy their Papa got them.

• Going digital isn’t all bad.

We were surprised when we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese and discovered that cups of tokens and paper tickets are things of the past. Now, they use a reusable play card for a certain time limit, which works even better. There’s no need to worry about chubby fingers losing tokens anymore. You simply hold the card on a coded spot on a ride or game to start it. Instead of keeping track of loops of tickets, game points are saved electronically.

• Boys will find dirt even in paved or grassy expanses.

Nick found a sliver of dirt between the edge of the patio and the lawn and immediately embarked on widening it with his fingers and a small twig. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Makin’ a rainbow,” he explained. “A dirt rainbow, so the sun will come out!”

A few minutes later, the sun peeked from behind the clouds.

“I DID IT!” he hollered. “Look! Nana, SUN!”

• Favored reading material may vary.

I always bring the boys new books. When it was time to settle down for the evening, I told the twins to bring books to Nana’s bed so we could cuddle and read. Puzzled, I heard them rummaging in the desk in the entryway, instead of plundering the book basket. Then they tore into the room and jumped into bed with their selections. “Read this, Nana!” Nick said handing me his choice with a flourish.

It was the phonebook.

Not to be outdone, Adam hollered, “My turn! Read dis grandma book!”

Grandma book? Turns out he’d found a small gift book about Queen Elizabeth in the desk. He pointed to her wrinkled face, gray hair and flowery hat.

“See? It’s a grandma book!”

• When your grandchild takes your hand and says, “Nana, come!” Always, always go.

What they want to show you might be as small as an ant crawling on a crevice in the sidewalk, or as big as a hollowed-out tree stump.

It can be icky (sorry, I still don’t like touching worms) or lovely, like the daffodil Nick plucked for me to tuck behind my ear.

All I know is that when they take my hand and ask me to go with them I get to see the world through their eyes.

 And oh, the view is wondrous!

Cindy Hval can be reached at dchval@juno.com. Hval is the author of “War Bonds: Love Stories from the Greatest Generation” (Casemate Publishers, 2015) available at Auntie’s Bookstore and bookstores nationwide.