By Paige Nash
My husband got home from work the other night and he was laying on the couch curled up with my daughter, Ashton. He was kind of in her face, talking to her and kissing her, telling her how much he missed her all day. After a little while he told her he needed to get up and go take a shower before he fell asleep.
Her response was, “Your mouth needs a shower.”
I completely lost it.
Apparently, he needed to brush his teeth on his way to the shower.
It’s obvious that children up to a certain age do not have a filter. They say exactly what is on their minds and they do not care (or even know to care,) if they are going to hurt someone’s feelings when they say it.
As we get older, we become more aware of this. We learn that sometimes it may not be appropriate to say exactly what we are thinking at a certain time or to particular people. Then there are a rare few who keep it real no matter what. They are usually referred to as the “blunt” friend.
Sometimes they are underappreciated. You can’t rely on every friend to tell you if you have food in your teeth, if you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe, or if you are possibly about to make a bad decision.
A friend who keeps things up front and honest, will tell you all those things, plus a lot more, some things that you may not even like to know. They tell it like it is. To certain people they can come across as rude or cruel, but in most cases, they are just showing a little tough love.
Some people have a hard time telling their friends and family what they need to hear, out of fear of embarrassing them or upsetting them. They don’t want to risk hurting someone else’s feelings.
A blunt friend does not care. They are going to tell you exactly how it is. They push you to be better and they are someone you can count on to always give their honest opinion, whether it be anything from choosing an outfit to a very important life decision, (or telling you that you need to brush your teeth.)
If you are not lucky enough to already have a friend like this in your corner, just have a few kids. Problem solved!
(Paige Nash is a wife, mom and journalist for The Webster Parish Journal.)
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