My littlest niece was over playing today. I guess she's about five years old now. Or six? I'm embarrassed to say that I don't really know because I don't spend much time with my sister (her mother) anymore. Anyway, I remember when this little cutie was very small. I used to watch her sometimes when she was a tiny toddler. My husband and I would watch her bigger sisters along with her, of course, but her situation was special. The poor little angel had a hard time getting used to being away from her mommy. She simply could not stand it. She would walk in the door and run right to me and leap up into my arms and wrap herself around me like a little baby chimp - and that is where she would stay until her mommy came and got her. Every once in a while she would lift her head out of my neck to look me in the eye and say, "I want Mommy." The poor baby. She was so precious. Eventually she began getting down and walking around for a bit before coming back to cling. Then later still, she would play with the others for a while before burying herself in my neck once again. She's still precious, but these days she's bigger and she runs around and plays with the others and never mentions her mommy and doesn't need to cling. I like to think that I helped that happen in some small way, that maybe I helped her mommy fulfill her mission by hugging her baby when she was away. I watched over her in a way that didn't say, "Go away and stop being so needy!" I think little children hear things like that much too often when they just need the adults to be patient with their care.

It's a sad shame that this child's toddler behavior was something that would be considered to be some kind of disorder by many child psychiatrists these days and she probably would have been drugged had her mother felt too overwhelmed and sought 'help' for this 'problem behavior'. Had this happened, the poor little thing might be unwell and cognitively impaired by now instead of out running around with the others after having finally internalized a deep enough sense of security to ensure her emotional wellness. I'm glad her mother let her cling. I'm glad I let her cling, too. I wore that kid like a suit of clothes for many an evening when others might have thought she was too big to have such needs. I'm glad I'm not like others. Now maybe my own children and some of the other children around me will be a little less likely to grow up and feel some of the more unbearable things that I walk around feeling all the time. I'm glad my sister brought this lovely child to me instead of to some babysitter. It might be that this is the only thing I can do to leave the world a better place than it was when I got here. And maybe that's okay.

Maybe the hand that rocks the cradle really DOES rule the world. I think this is a concept that every adult needs to consider, even if they do not have children of their own. Even if you are not a teacher or a child care worker, you are still someone's aunt, uncle, friend or neighbor. You never know when you might be called upon to 'rule' for a little while. Always be ready to do it with kindness, patience, respect and love. When you do this, you are adding a little pinch of health into the recipe that eventually forms an adult human being who will go on to rock other cradles. Never, never forget that. No matter what else you accomplish, the cradles you rock might make the biggest impact when it's all said and done. Rock them as well as you possibly can.