Sometimes it’s tiresome being little! I can’t wait until I’m grown up and can do anything I want. Right now everyone tells me I’m not big enough to do all the fun stuff yet. I was going to show them I’m big — but instead I got into BIG trouble. Here is how it happened.
Grandma and Grandpa couldn’t wait to get to Kentucky back in July. I couldn’t wait, either! I knew from listening to Grandma and Grandpa talk that there are grandchildren in Kentucky. That means more people to play with me.
I was happy to see all the children. There are four of them — David, Benjamine, Annelyse, and Jonathan.
Baby Jonathan gave me a hug and started chewing on me right away. I’ve learned that babies always want to do that. Good thing I’m washable.
The others were lots of fun, too. One day they made a tent in the living room. “Let me play, too!” I said. I never like to be left out.
Another day everyone played hide-and-seek. “I want to play, too,” I said. I found Annelyse without too much trouble.
Grandma brought lots of fun things for us to do. One day they made fancy glasses. “I want to make glasses, too,” I said.
“Linkee,” I don’t think you can do this,” Grandma said. “It’s a craft for children, not for monkeys. Why don’t you play with Jonathan and we will make you some fancy glasses?”
That made me mad. I don’t like to be left out. I didn’t want to play with the baby! I wanted to do what everyone else was doing! I went over the tub of decorations and started to look through it. I would show Grandma, I thought. I’ll make the prettiest glasses of all.
“Watch out, Linkee!” David shouted, just as the whole bucket of beads and decorations tipped over on the floor. Maybe I’m not big enough to do crafts. I decided to go and play with Jonathan after all.
Everyone made glasses, and they did make a pair for me and a pair for Jonathan. I was still mad, though. I don’t like it when people tell me I’m too little to do things. I want to do the things big people do!
We did have fun playing and playing. All week long I watched the big box on the table. It was something called “fireworks.” I was determined they weren’t going to leave me out when they played fireworks!
Finally the big day came — July 4th. The kids were excited. It was fireworks day! They could hardly wait for it to get dark. That’s when you do the fireworks. At last it was time!
David was skipping and Benjamine was jumping and Annelyse was running in circles. I didn’t know what would happen, but I couldn’t wait for whatever it was.
David handed me some round things. “Here, Linkee,” he said. “You can hold these for me.” Hold them? I wanted to play with them. But I didn’t know what to do with them. I nibbled on one to see what they tasted like.
“Linkee! Don’t eat them!” Benjamine said. “We will show you how to play with these.”
His Daddy helped him light one. It made smoke — lots of it. I didn’t like the way it smelled, but it was pretty. I wanted to light one.
“No, Linkee,” said David’s Daddy. “You better just watch. You might get burned trying to light them.”
That made me mad again. Nobody ever lets me do anything!! Then Grandpa got out the sparklers. When he lit them, they were beautiful. They shot sparks everywhere. David and Benjamine got to play with them. They waved them around and made designs in the dusky air. Even Annelyse got to play with one, though she was a little afraid of it.
“Me! Me!” I said. “I want a sparkler!”
“No, Linkee,” Grandma said. “I’m afraid you will be burned. You are made of cloth and stuffing, so it wouldn’t take much but a spark to set you on fire.”
I cried and yelled. I WANTED a sparkler. I tried to get Benjamine’s.
“Watch out, Linkee,” Benjamine yelled. “You’ll get burned.”
I tried to get David’s sparkler.
“Stop, that, Linkee,” David yelled. I climbed on his shoulder and grabbed the sparkler, but I dropped it. It fell on David’s hand.
“Ow!” David cried. “That hurts!” David’s hand turned red where the sparkler had fallen on it. The hot sparkler had burned him.
Grandma put ice and medicine on the burn, but David was too hurt to enjoy the rest of the fireworks much. And I was in trouble!
“Linkee,” Grandma said, “We only tell you ‘no’ for a reason. We want you to be happy and we will let you do anything you want that is safe and good for you. We knew that the sparklers and other fireworks get hot. David is hurting, but God made his skin to heal itself. Yours won’t. If you caught on fire, you would just be a scorched monkey and we couldn’t fix you. We only tell you ‘no” when it is for your own good.”
I was sorry, but even sorrier when Grandma put inside up on the piano and I couldn’t go out and watch the fireworks. But I felt bad that I made David get hurt.
“That’s okay, Linkee,” he said. I could tell he was being brave about his owie, which made me feel even worse.
But his hand got better and we did have other fun days in Kentucky. I’ll tell you about the time I got stuck on a firetruck next time.
Your friend,
Linkee
Hi kids,
Do you ever feel like Linkee — that grown-ups are always spoiling your fun by not letting you do things? They aren’t really being mean. They love you and don’t want you to get hurt. That’s why they say “no” or “wait a while.” You have to trust them to know what is best for you.
Sometimes people think God is mean because sometimes He says, “no.” He knows what is best for you, though. He knows what will hurt you and He knows what is going to happen in the future, so He knows what you need. He loves you even more than your parents do and you can trust Him to only say “no” to things that hurt you. So don’t be like Linkee and get mad. God is good. You can trust Him to give you the good things you need — even if they aren’t the things you think you want right now!
I love you and miss you!
Grandma