The Hearts of Children

The Hearts of Children

When I was one and a half or two my parents would often go out to theatre productions, leaving my four-year-old sister and me with a babysitter. Our babysitter loved children very much, and loved to play with them even more.

One night my parents left for a play around eight o'clock, which was after my bedtime, so before they left they put me to bed. When they returned around two in the morning, they opened the door to hear laughter and giggling. They walked into the living room to find the babysitter having an absolutely wonderful time playing with me. They were astonished to find that I was awake at all. When they questioned the babysitter as to when I woke up she replied, "He was so cute there asleep that I couldn't resist so I woke him up so we could have some fun together." Both of my parents' jaws dropped to the floor; who on earth wakes a sleeping baby so they can play?

The next morning my sister asked my parents where they had been the night before. My father replied with, "well honey, we went out to a play." My sister froze as giant tears began to well up in her eyes, finally just burst out sobbing. Both of my parents immediately tried to console and calm her, however they had no idea what was wrong. Finally they calmed my sister down enough to ask what the matter was; she could barely respond through her sobs, "Mom-my y-you an-and dad-dy went and play-ed with-ith out m-me. I-I can play too!" Then she proceeded to take my parents around the house to show them just exactly how she could play and continue to sob over why they didn't take her along.

From that day forward every time my parents left the house they were going to a meeting.