A Stupendous Sum of Sausage Rolls!

This weekend the family attended a birthday party for my nephew, at a whopping six years of age he's the middle child of three and was very excited to be having a birthday party.  There were tonnes of family, tonnes of little people and tonnes of little sausage rolls.  Everyone had a great time and lots of fun was had by all.  It was a very joyous occasion indeed.  Well...except for one girl... 

Having reached the towering heights of six years old, my nephew has dedicated the appropriate amount of time to considering the serious questions in life.  In particular "who am I and what do I like?".  Having reached the realisation that football is not his thing, he has decided, that he is a Star Wars fan.  As such he could be seen scurrying around the soft play area, accompanied by most family members under the height of 6ft, whilst wearing a Darth Vader jumper.  After about an hour of running around getting sufficiently "out of puff" the kids were called over to enjoy the buffet of finger foods that had been laid out for them.  Small sandwiches were snacked on, petite profiteroles were partaken in and colourful children's cake were chomped on. 

Unbeknownst to the kids, my wife's mum had spotted a pair of Storm Troopers who were taking part in a charity event in one of the rooms adjoining our soft play area.  She spoke to my wife's sister (my nephews mum...keep up...) and she had approached them, explained his recent Star Wars obsession, and asked if they'd be okay making an appearance at the party.  They agreed and once we had sung happy birthday, the Storm Troopers came as we were handing out cake, ready take photos next to our Darth Vader jumpered birthday boy.   As each child noticed the Storm Troopers there was gasping, excited chatter, a huge grin broke out across my nephews face... and then screaming.  One of the littlest people at the party had stopped hurrying through her ham sandwich to see what everyone else was so interested by.  Sufficient to say she wasn't impressed in the slightest and... unfortunately... began to cry.  Luckily her mum was on hand to calm her down and explain, but for a brief moment she was one very unhappy little person. 

This little person got me thinking... Considering just how differently people can view things, in this case a Storm Trooper, then I'm amazed at how well me and the little fledglings are getting on.  I've never had a  moment where I've completely misjudged a situation...not that badly at least... and I think that's been a major help! 

So perhaps it's worth keeping in mind that some people might have a different way of thinking, a different way of acting or even a completely different reaction to you, about... well anything.  The best thing you can do is remain calm, explain your side and try to get things sorted.  I've found this to be true on everything from a misbehaving kid right the way up to politics. We're all people and should all be capable of caring for one another, at the very least being able to show each other common courtesy. 

So try and remember, there are three sides to every story.  For the grown ups, there's a man in a Storm Trooper suit.  For most kids there's a super cool Storm Trooper and then, for the unfortunate few, there's a "what the hell is that!?".  

So next time you find yourself wrapped up in a disagreement, don't get wound up and fall out, just remember that someone may have just found a Storm Trooper in their ham sandwich.