Last night I had a heart to heart conversation with my little boy. He’s now 4 years old but he has the wisdom of a young man. I know I’ve said this often about him, but he’s an amazing kid. The discussion began with hugs and kisses as usual. It then turned to me asking him why he was acting up at school. He’s been talking a lot, disturbing his class mates by trying to make them laugh during lesson time and not listening to his teacher. This is unacceptable, I explained to him. He never really gave a clear explanation of why he would behave this way, but he assured me it wouldn’t happen again. Haha! Yeah, right. The conversation shifted and I began to ask him about his hand. What do the other kids think? Does anyone ask him questions? How does he respond? Does it make him angry or sad? It’s almost as if my 4 year old little boy turned into a wise young man again…..he began to tell me about a kid at church that laughed at his hand. As I fought back tears, I asked him to tell me more…….and he did. He said he was coloring while sitting in the play area with a little girl (they were sharing a coloring book) and her brother came over and started laughing at his hand. He said the kid was six years old, but he didn’t know his name. (I’m assuming he guessed his age) I asked him how that made him feel. He said it made him mad and sad. I asked him did he say anything or tell the teacher, he said no. He just kept coloring his pages. I told him that he did the right thing. I also told him that when something like that happens he can tell the Youth leader or teacher at the time and if he feels up to it, he can tell the kid that it isn’t nice to laugh at people. I think these situations hurt me more than it hurts my little buddy. He seems so strong and confident. I pray that he stays that way, but only strong and more confident as he gets older. At what point does the innocence fade? What makes someone laugh at someone else? I’ve noticed that smaller kids would ask questions and once they received a simple answer, the questions stopped and they were just ready to play with my little buddy. But at some point the simple answers don’t satisfy and the kids begin to taunt or badger.  At what point does the innocence fade?