"Confessions of a Four Year Old Drama Queen"

My wife and I didn't have the opportunity to raise a girl. We were blessed with two sons, but no daughters. Friends of ours told us we didn't know what we were missing. They said there were aspects of raising a daughter we would miss by only having sons. What they mentioned most often was the DRAMA!

I never really understood what they meant by the DRAMA! I mean girls are girls and boys are boys and they are both forms of human beings. So what was meant by the DRAMA? I now have a granddaughter and though she is only four years old, I know what DRAMA means.

Last weekend she and her brother Walker stayed with us while their parents went to Atlanta. We had a great time and everybody got along just fine. I say this because sometimes Genna, my four-year-old granddaughter, has trouble sharing the limelight with her two-year-old brother Walker. But this weekend they were fine and everybody felt "special."

But when my son and daughter-in-law came to our house things changed. I think Genna felt they were showing just a little too much attention to her brother. It just aggravated her so much that she had too let off steam. She did this by pinching him on the leg. Walker of course hollered and now Genna was in trouble.

Her parents talked to her and explained why she could not go around pinching Walker. Then they put her in "time out." Her place of punishment was on the stairs going up to our second floor. I couldn't see her from where I was sitting in the den but I could hear her sniffling DRAMATICALLY!

Walker got over his pain in record time and went off to find Genna. He was hollering "Cookie" which is his special name for her, as he roamed around the house. She didn't answer him, but he finally discovered her on his own. At this point the following conversation took place.

Walker: "Cookie, go. (Meaning we are going home so come on.)

Genna: No Walker, I can't come home with you (sniff, sniff). I can't live with you any more. I am going to have to stay here with Nana and Pooh and live with them. 

Walker: Cookie go!

Genna: I'll miss you, Walker, I really will but I am going to live with Nana and Pooh now.

Walker: COOKIE, GO!!!!

I guess this enthusiasm must have warmed the cockles of her heart for at that point she relented. She got up from the stairs, came and told her mother she was sorry, apologized to Walker, and made everything right with the world again. 

When they left she was her usual happy, bubbling self. It was amazing to see how quickly her mood could change. But then I guess that is the way it is when you have to have some DRAMA in your life.

 

 

 

 

 

©2004 Jackie K. Cooper

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