You’ve probably been fishing before. And even if you haven’t been yourself, you could probably tell someone how to do it. You put some bait on a line, cast the line out in the water, wait for the fish to go after the bait and then reel them in. Our girls have never been fishing. (I promise it is on the list of to-dos, we just haven’t gotten to it yet.) But somehow, instinctively, they understand how it works.
Thing is, they weren’t going after fish. They were trying to reel in some new friends. Recently, on our vacation in the Bahamas, we found ourselves most evenings in the pool near where we were staying. It was a quiet section of the resort, so it worked for grandparents, parents, and kids alike. After lots of daily activities it was nice to unwind in a quiet atmosphere.
The girls, however, are always on the prowl, looking for new friends. It’s funny how little kids can be. They walk up to another kid, ask their age (they never ask for a name first, just age) and then say, “Do you want to play with me?” I told Kim that the next time we go somewhere, we just need to walk up to strangers and ask the same thing. I have a feeling we’d get a lot of strange looks.
In some cases, the kids the girls wanted to play with were busy with other siblings or parents and they were having trouble getting them out on their own to ask the “Do you want to play with me?” question. But they weren’t going to be thwarted. They decided that what they needed was some way to get the kids’ attention. Maddy celebrated her 6th birthday while we were there and one of her presents was a reversable sequin frisbee. That turned out to be the perfect object for Friend Fishing. They turned it into bait by writing “Hi” on the frisbee and started tossing it towards the kids that they couldn’t get the direct attention of. I think their theory was that with a “Hi” in hand they had the perfect inroad to become friends.
I’m not sure the Friend Trap ever actually worked. And the thing is, they didn’t need it. At every pool, slide, lagoon, restaurant and even at the airport waiting to go home, they made a new friend. It’s funny how quickly kids become friends too. With one little girl, I heard the following conversation:
“Where are you sleeping?”
“I’m sleeping on a couch.”
“Like a couch bed.”
“Yup, a couch bed.”
“Me too, I’m sleeping on a couch bed too.”
And with some jumping, clapping, and excited exclamations, Maddy and the little girl were immediate best friends.
Finding friends may not be as easy as fishing and we don’t all have a knack for making friends quickly. Maybe that’s why some of us love our plants so much . . . but really, Abby and Maddy showed us it isn’t that hard. Put a smile on your face, be ready to have a little fun, and a connection can come from anywhere and with anyone. So, go ahead and set a trap. You never know who you might catch.
