Written by: Annie Cook

Kids look at things differently.
A table does not have a top because we cannot see it
We think the legs of the table are the table;
we accept that not being able to see the table is not a big deal,
we see the legs of those who sit on chairs when they eat at the table,
and we are given our very own high chair too, so how could we complain?

The seat of the adult chair is too tall and uncomfortable
because our legs keep dangling in the air when we are seated;

The pencils and sharpeners are not stationery,
They are magic tools; with them our hands become useful
We can draw, scribble and make pictures,
We can tell others what we imagine.

Food we eat are not source of our physical growth and energy,
Running, jumping and walking are what make us energetic
and help us grow.

Books are not our main source of our intelligence
People and the environment are our teachers

We yearn to grow and become adults
because we want to be able to sit without our legs dangling in the air

We want to use the pen and all other stationery without
being told they are too sharp or we are too small to handle them properly
That include the scissors which we know so well,
will shape anything with a single cut. Desparate!

We have the freedom, but there is only thing that freedom cannot help us,
It cannot make us grow taller or bigger even if we will it.

We have to wait, the voice whispers in our ears, constant and angelic,
Oh no, we cannot wait for that to happen!
We have to try to be taller, so we try this trick: tip-toe,
Hey that works, and to add to that height,
we extend our hands to reach out,
Hey that works even better, we try even harder
The effort we take to feel taller is showing,
our body is stretched, our neck is stretched,
as far they can, and we tip-toe even more,
The end of our the fingertip is the highest point to us,
And at the highest point reached,
our face is a signature of joy and happiness,
that we have done it
Our eyes are fixed on the space higher than
than the highest point which our fingers have reached.

We stand tall before we are tall, and when all is done
our two feet feel the floor again,
but just for the moment, that we felt tall,
we could remember exactly how it worked.
The next time we want to feel tall again,
we know how, we know we can stand tall even before we are tall.

- Annie Cook