So, I saw Leesie down the block today...
Nov. 22nd, 2003 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Who of course is no longer Leesie down the block but Elise somewhere else. Still, cute kid and all that. She's got her minor bit of hero-worship for me, G-d knows why, and will willingly drop whatever she's doing to talk to me. And hugtackle me.
But as I'm talking to her, it occured to me why I like that kid so much. She reminds me very much of myself at ten. When I was ten, I was... well, I was physically developed, which she is NOT, thank something. And I was always very bright, etc, I was reading at a college level... but I had the emotional maturity of a much younger child. It was insane, I never did my schoolwork because I felt I wasn't learning anything, but I played make believe until I was 15. And Leesie is a lot like that, I think. Of course, I don't see her all that much, but it's true, she plays more by herself or with kids younger than she is, and she acts like she's six or seven, not like she's ten.
She's also got attention stuffs going on. She can simultaniously seem to be overly focused on one thing while also jumping too quickly from subject to subject. Hard to explain, you'd have to be there. I am fairly certain that's not normal 10yearold behaviour... my basis for comparison being her friend Vanessa, who does not act like that.
And she has my penchant for impulsive action. Crumbling leaves in people's hair, saying random things like "your breath smells (apparently, vanessa's breath smells. Who knew?) to people, and so on.
There is, of course, no point in my saying any of this. I don't see her that often, I don't know that much about child psychology or kids at that age, or psychology at all, so I'm just babbling. I just moderately worry. I honestly like Elise, but I can imagine her behaviour making her very unhappy in the near future. And of course, trying to fake being otherwise would also make her unhappy. It's a fine line.... Oh well.
But as I'm talking to her, it occured to me why I like that kid so much. She reminds me very much of myself at ten. When I was ten, I was... well, I was physically developed, which she is NOT, thank something. And I was always very bright, etc, I was reading at a college level... but I had the emotional maturity of a much younger child. It was insane, I never did my schoolwork because I felt I wasn't learning anything, but I played make believe until I was 15. And Leesie is a lot like that, I think. Of course, I don't see her all that much, but it's true, she plays more by herself or with kids younger than she is, and she acts like she's six or seven, not like she's ten.
She's also got attention stuffs going on. She can simultaniously seem to be overly focused on one thing while also jumping too quickly from subject to subject. Hard to explain, you'd have to be there. I am fairly certain that's not normal 10yearold behaviour... my basis for comparison being her friend Vanessa, who does not act like that.
And she has my penchant for impulsive action. Crumbling leaves in people's hair, saying random things like "your breath smells (apparently, vanessa's breath smells. Who knew?) to people, and so on.
There is, of course, no point in my saying any of this. I don't see her that often, I don't know that much about child psychology or kids at that age, or psychology at all, so I'm just babbling. I just moderately worry. I honestly like Elise, but I can imagine her behaviour making her very unhappy in the near future. And of course, trying to fake being otherwise would also make her unhappy. It's a fine line.... Oh well.
