The More Things Change . . .

Sometimes they stay the same. Sometimes they keep on changing.

Peter was here a few weeks ago. He was wandering around the house while I was making a list on the computer. “Mimi,” he said, as he walked by the room. “I’m going to call you. Get your phone.”

So, I got my phone.

(The “Telephone” gesture is described as “Thumb and little finger outstretched, other fingers tight against palm. Thumb to ear and little finger to mouth as though they were a telephone receiver. Used to say, ‘I’ll call you,’ or may be used to request a future telephone conversation or to tell someone of a call.” /source: Haviland, John B. (2005). “Gesture as cultural and linguistic practice” (PDF). In Anita Sujoldzic. Linguistic Anthropology, Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. Oxford: EOLSS Publishers. Retrieved 2013-04-27)

“I have my phone,” I said.

Peter walked up and down the hallway, chatting with me as I held my “phone” up to my ear. Here’s what I saw: He didn’t have my kind of phone, that “thumb and little finger outstretched” construction. Instead, he held his palm flat against his ear. He had an “iPhone” gesture. And why would he not? A modern boy living a modern life with his modern pretend phone. While I’m using my pretend old-timey phone.

Of course, my pretend old-timey phone isn’t as old as some.

Peter, and his peer group, are cute and clever and charming. Parents and grandparents (and other relatives) are eager to show photos and tell stories about just how cute and clever and charming they are. Those cute and clever and charming kids are going to grow up to be the leaders, inventors, parents, teachers, pastors, community leaders, business leaders … the rising future and hope. The planners, the doers, the dreamers. We’ll need to be careful not to make fun of them or disregard what they have to say to us, just because they’re young. Probably starting now.