I realize it is impossible at any age to know with
any certainty what the future holds for any of us, especially our children.
Still, I cannot help sometimes to think ahead and wonder what path Hannah will
take in life. Twenty years from now, what will her life be like? Forty years?
Sixty years? What interest will she latch onto which will lead to her choosing
what she wants to do with her life? As I ponder that now I can’t help but think
about her personality now in hopes that it might open a small window on what
might be one day.
One of the first things I recognize about Hannah
is her negotiating skills. As an example, bedtime is usually an involved
process. When it is time for her to go to bed, suddenly she breaks into a
sports agent working to get a client the best possible deal. She wants to jump
off the couch five more times. Her mom or I say one more time. She then
whittles it down to three more times. Even then when she wins the negotiations,
she still tries to talk us into more jumps off the couch. She can be relentless
when it comes to negotiations.
Another quality I have recently noticed is
Hannah’s ability to schmooze folks. On more than one occasion recently Hannah
has looked at me and stated, “Dad, you’re a genius!” Now, those of you who know
me know that her statement is a bit beyond ridiculous. And when I first hear
her say it, I know I am being worked like a mark on the carnival midway. Yet,
when I hear her say it in that same sweet voice that tells me how much she
loves me, I can’t help but just grin and, then, for a moment, bask in the glory
of genius status. Then, I usually trip over my own feet and come back to
reality. Still, Hannah’s ability to butter some of us up is something she has
embraced for use.
Sometimes, we have issues defining things for
Hannah. She might ask what something means and we will provide an explanation
to her. Our explanation though won’t fit what Hannah thinks it means, or more
appropriately, what she wants it to mean. Sometimes, after we provide an
explanation to her she flat out tells us we are wrong making us then ask her
why she even asked us at all. So, it seems she has become adept at parsing
definitions, choosing what she wants something to mean, not necessarily what it
really means.
One other thing that we have noticed lately is
Hannah’s use of the question, ‘Huh?’ Yes, we know it’s not the most elegant
sounding word in the world and hopefully, we will be able to transition her to
saying “What?” or better yet, “Pardon?” but lately, this one three letter word
has flowed from Hannah’s mouth constantly. At first, we were a bit concerned
she could have a hearing issue. We quickly realized though that she heard every
word we said to her. She was just using “Huh?” to stall for time or to distract
us from something else she might be doing.
So, I add all these things together, Hannah’s
negotiation skills, her ability to schmooze others, her capability to parse
definitions to what she needs them to mean for her and her knack to hear us but
not really hear what we are saying and I come to the stone cold realization
that our daughter has the necessary skills to be a modern day politician.
Thank God, she’s only four years old, there’s
still time to change the path she is on.
