Sonny and I chuckled at the fear in our 7 year old. He has been waiting to lose a tooth for two years now. He is the last in his school class to lose a tooth, often coming home from school complaining that he is the only one with all of his baby teeth. He has struggled through his self imposed ridicule beginning in Kindergarten, throughout first grade, and into the third quarter of second. You would think this universal "coming of age" event would bring happiness to him, but no, it is utter fear.
We tried to coax him into letting us just pull it out. We reasoned with him, promising no pain, no more fear, and an added bonus left by a little lady called the tooth fairy. Nothing we said could change his mind. He preferred to live in denial, hoping the tooth would somehow re-position itself in his mouth and no longer be a problem. I guess we'll see how school goes today.
While laying in bed last night, laughing to myself about Grayson's honest child reaction to change in his life, I thought of a book I just recently re-read.
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson is a short parable that tells real truths about change. It uses "cheese" as a metaphor for what you want to have in life- a new job, a relationship, money, health,permanent teeth, etc. There are 4 characters in the book who live in a "maze" and look for "cheese" to nourish them. The "maze" is where you look for what you want- your family, your job, or your community. While in the "maze" they find some "cheese". Two of the characters "keep on their toes", always watching what is happening with the cheese, always ready to move on if they need more cheese, etc. The other two just settle in and accept their "cheese" happily. Every day they do the same thing, go through the maze to the same place to find the same cheese and eat it. Unfortunately, they don't realize the "cheese" supply dwindling and when they get to their spot in the maze one day, they look around and say, "Who Moved My Cheese?"
Of course the two prepared characters were aware of the cheese disappearing. They were ready to run back in the maze and find more "cheese" somewhere else, but the other characters struggled with the loss of "cheese" and didn't want to find anything new. After some time, one of them discovered the need to change and search for new "cheese". He re-entered the "maze" and wrote his experiences on the walls of the "maze", symbolizing the idea that when we finally find the right ways to deal with change- we can have more success and less stress in our lives.
Right now, this world is full of change. Most of our friends, family and colleagues are experiencing some kind of change in their lives. After being reminded of how to successfully deal with it, I am kind of excited for us all to change. It is fun to see what options we have lying around the corners of our "maze". It is scary, but it is also thrilling.
Now I just have to instill this philosophy into Grayson. I never want my children to grow up and be the last character stuck in the "maze" with no "cheese" to make them happy just because they are scared of a little change.
This is really nice, Carolyn. Thanks for sharing a little summary of the book. I heard about it before and saw some copies in a local bookstore in Los Angles. Maybe Grayson was just worried that he's teeth won't be replaced. One thing I learned from my dental experience was whitening, because of excessive sugar. I guess we just have to teach our children that there's no permanent things in this life. Moving forward is the only way to survive.
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