大人们不理解小孩子，他们总是认为孩子太小了，他们小小的脑袋里装不下什么东西，他们小小的心灵里也不会有太多的想法。但是只要大人们仔细观察，就会发现孩子们的“小”中承载着大人们难以想象的深情。
My son Brendan cried his first day of school. Even Mrs. Phillips, a kind, soft-spoken master of the six-year-old mind, could not coax him to a seat. His eyes streamed, his nose ran and he clung to me like a snail on a strawberry. I plucked him off and escaped.
It wasn't that Brendan didn't like school. He just didn't like being apart from me. We'd had some good times, he and I, in those preschool years. We played at the pool. We skated on quiet morning ice. We sampled half the treat tray at weekly neighborhood coffee parties. Now in Grade 1, Brendan was faced with five hours of wondering what I was doing with my day.
Brendan always came home for lunch, the only one of his class not to eat at his desk. But once home, fed and hugged, a far-away look of longing would crease his gentle brow—he wanted to go back to school to play! So I walked him back, waited with him until he spotted someone he knew, then left. He told me once that he watched me until he couldn't see me anymore, so I always walked fast and never looked back.
One day when I took Brendan back after lunch, he spied a friend, kissed me goodbye, and scampered right off. I went, feeling pleased for him, celebrating his new independence, his entry into the first-grade social loop. Then—I didn't know why—I glanced back. And there he was. The playground buzzed all around him, kids everywhere, and he stood, his chin tucked close, his body held small, his face intent but not sad, blowing me kisses. So brave, so unashamed, so completely loving, Brendan was watching me go.
No book on mothering could have prepared me for that quick, raw glimpse into my child's soul. My mind leaped 15 years ahead to him packing boxes and his dog grown old and him saying, "Dry up, Mom. It's not like I'm leaving the country." In my mind I tore up the card every mother signs saying she'll let her child go when he's ready. I looked at my Brendan, his shirt tucked in, every button done up, his toes just turned in a bit, and I thought, "OK, you're six for me forever." With a smile I had to really dig for, I blew him a kiss, turned and walked away.
精美译文：
我儿子布兰登第一天上学哭了，甚至连那位在六岁儿童心目中和蔼可亲、声音柔和的菲利普斯老师也不能把他劝诱到座位上去。他泪流满面，鼻子抽搭着，紧紧抓住我，就象蜗牛附着在草莓上一样。我猛力地把他扯开，逃走了。