While my sister-in-law was watching President Obama on the television give a speech, my 19-month-old niece stopped to listen. After standing there a few minutes listening to him talk she uttered "mo-mo" and walked away. For those of you who don't know what this means, it is slang for moron. Isn't it funny how young children have such discernment when it comes to character?
This incident reminded me of a time many years ago when Bill Clinton was in office. My daughter was just a baby when he was in office. One day I couldn't help but laugh. She was sitting on the floor playing with her toys as I was flipping through the channels trying to find something good to watch. I stopped just briefly on a channel that was showing President Clinton giving a speech. My daughter stopped playing and started crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I thought maybe she hurt herself on one of her toys. I quickly changed the channel before checking to see what had happened. As soon as I changed the channel she stopped crying. I sat back down and started flipping through the channels again. Again, I came across a channel that was showing him giving a speech. Again, she started crying. Again, I changed the channel. Again, she stopped crying. I called my husband at the time into the room and told him to watch our daughter. I flipped through the channels until I came across him speaking. Immediately she started crying. I flipped it to the next channel and she stopped. I flipped back and forth between the channels a couple of times. Every time Bill Clinton was talking she cried.
Over the years I have witnessed many children show disdain toward certain people, only to find out that these people really were not nice people. I have witnessed, and been one of those children, who scared adults, perfect strangers to the child, by running over to them. When I was about three my mother was going through the airport with me and my brother. He was little, so she had to carry him. I was at least old enough to walk. I was jealous that he was being carried and I had to walk. After all, I was still little too and my legs were tired. I sat down and refused to move. My mom was getting quite agitated with me. I was so mad at her that I ran over to this stranger who was sitting down and climbed into his lap. The poor man about had a heart attack. He must have been a decent person because I doubt at that age I would have felt comfortable enough to do that. Nowadays I just get strange looks if I go sit in some random guy's lap. I guess it's not as cute anymore.
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