There are many things that you may successfully hide from adults, but simply cannot hide from children. Impoliteness is one of those things. As a child, my sister once turned to my parents. “When I said ‘thank you’, why did that uncle not say ‘welcome’?”
Today, a colleague of mine was trying to hide from her two-year-old son. Essentially, she knew that if her child saw her, he would demand her attention, become cranky, want to be carried… The works.
Another colleague and I attempted to shield her while all the little children entered the refectory. Her son could not see her; we had hidden her completely.
But one little girl ran around us, perhaps just to see what we were doing standing there. She peeked and then yelled, eyes shining, “Phil! Mommy!” And then, in case he had not heard, she called again, “Phil! Mummy! Mummy!”
The game was up.
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