Through the eyes of a child

There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence.
Henry Adams

Some old friends from North Carolina came to visit with us today and we went out to lunch. We also invited some friends that have a three and a half year old and a two and a half year old. I noticed that the people at the table behind ours were getting annoyed that the toddlers were making noise and acting like toddlers do. Not acting like bad toddlers, they were just acting the way young children act. They were talking a little loud and they were excited to be out at a restaurant. The behavior of the adults at the table behind us sparked some thought in my mind about how I acted before we had kids, how I viewed kids in general and how those views have changed since becoming a dad.
The older man at the other table obviously didn't like our friends' children. He was consistently rolling his eyes and made a motion like he wanted to break the glass water bottle on the edge of a table and stab someone with the jagged edges. He had what I have heard decribed as dagger eyes. If he could I am sure he would of leapt across his table and told our friends kids to be quiet and act like tiny adults. I guess the thing that I found strangest was that this man had an infant seated at his table. I assume it was his grandchild because the other people at the table seemed to be the right age to have a newborn. The old man seemed to be interested in the newborn, he was holding the newborn while the baby's mom ate lunch. It was too strange to see someone have such contempt for other people's kids but nothing but love for their own.
I am saddened to admit that there have been times that I have felt annoyed with other people's kids in public. I habe never made believe that I was going to stab them with a broken bottle but to each their own I guess. Now that I have become a parent my opinions about children have, of course, changed. My daughter has opened my eyes to the wonders of being a parent, enjoying the world through the eyes of a child. Seeing everything for the first time and just being amazed by everything that the world has to offer. I am lucky that I was ready to let me daughter show me these things.
I hope that someday the man at the table behind us can remember what being a child is like again. Everyone deserves to be able to see the world through the eyes of a child sometimes.