How do you teach a baby to smile? You are born with this incredible power to make another human being. You spend the greater percentage of your life looking to mate. Some have an easier time procreating, while others must spend a great deal of time and money. You go through this tremendous mental preparation similar to that one Creed song. You turn your world upside down for 9 months, and then completely flip it over 3 or 4 more times after birth. You are charged with nurturing this child to enhance development. You read books, read web sites, and get opinions from everyone from family to the grocery checkout lady. You make countless trips to the store, and you buy only the best things you can afford. You clean and feed this child day in and day out. You do what you can, even if you aren’t going to ever win parent of the year. You commit yourself to sharing with them everything you know about life. You promise to not let them make the same mistakes. You hope to shield them from the evils of the world, but give them enough space to find their place in it. You pray that you’ll do it right.
So how do you teach a baby to smile? You can’t, and that is just the way it is.
The single most pure thing a human being can do is just inherent in our structure. You look at them one day and they just beam at you. You can only encourage them to do it again. You turn into a lunatic with goofy faces, voices, and songs just to have it happen again. This baby knows no fear, angst, or hardship. Sure they cry, but that is a somewhat involuntary reaction to their needs. They don’t have to smile, they just do. Your world becomes so small when this happens. Everything in your small bubble makes sense.
You can’t teach a baby to smile, but you can learn a lot from theirs.
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