Renewed Hope - A Boy Named Noah

Yesterday, a friend of mine had a pretty terrible experience at the playground with her two kids. It was the second time in a month she had to explain to her 3 & 2 year old that not all kids are nice, that it's okay to walk away from people who make you feel crummy about yourself.

We've all seen kids at the playground with behavior that's less than favorable & it sincerely makes me dread the day I'll have to send my sweet Shelby off to school, but yesterday afternoon may faith was renewed when my aunt sent me this photo of my daughter. 

They had gone to a local playground to play & look for painted rocks. No sooner did they park when Shelby made a beeline for the playground with the BIG tunnel, only a boy was sitting in the tunnel blocking Shelby from crawling through. My aunt suggested Shelby, who’s 2, politely ask the boy to move. A few minutes went by & my aunt went to see what they were up to. She found Shelby sprawled out next to the boy while he read to her. 

A woman approached my aunt, “that’s my Noah. He just loves kids."

My aunt soon learned that Noah is 10 & the youngest of 7 children. It became apparent that Noah truly does love kids as he spent a lot of his time playing with, reading to, & even correcting mean behavior. He reminded two girls that bullying is unkind after they took a hat from another kiddo, & threw it. He made his arms into a hoop so Shelby could "make a basket." He turned an ordinary trip to the playground into a wonderful memory for my daughter. 

Noah gives me hope. Hope that there are parents out there who are raising their children to be kind, respectful, & compassionate. I don’t know who his parents are, but I want to say thank you. Thank you for raising such a wonderful little boy. I hope Shelby & I run into Noah again because he is truly a very special little boy.