ADULT ICE CREAM…
AND KID ICE CREAM
Adults eat ice cream with their minds.
Kids eat ice cream with their whole life.
That may explain why children enjoy it more.
TWO TYPES OF ICE CREAM
ADULT ICE CREAM…
AND KID ICE CREAM
There are two kinds of ice cream in this world.
Adult ice cream.
And kid ice cream.
Same cone.
Same scoop.
Same chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or whatever flavor makes the mouth report for duty.
But the experience is not the same.
Not even close.
THE ADULT ICE CREAM EXPERIENCE
Adults eat ice cream with conditions.
Calories.
Sugar.
Cholesterol.
Napkins.
Drips.
Clothes.
Guilt.
Exercise.
Diet.
Portion control.
Allergies.
And the big one:
Should I really be eating this?
By the time the adult gets through negotiating with the ice cream, the ice cream is half melted and the joy has been cross-examined like a hostile witness.
YOUR INTELLECT AND ICE CREAM DON’T GO TOGETHER
The intellect has its place.
Taxes.
Contracts.
Driving.
Courtrooms.
Business.
Fine.
But when a perfectly good ice cream cone is placed in your hand, maybe the mind should take a coffee break.
Kids understand this.
Adults forgot.
A child does not ask the ice cream to justify itself.
A child does not look for nutritional evidence.
A child does not calculate regret.
A child receives the blessing.
Then gets to work.
THE KID ICE CREAM EXPERIENCE
To a child, ice cream is not dessert.
It is an event.
A ceremony.
A sacred pause in the day.
The whole world disappears except for one assignment:
Do not let it drip away.
That cone becomes mission control.
The tongue becomes a rescue crew.
The hand tilts.
The eyes widen.
The knees bend.
The child enters into full concentration.
This is not eating.
This is living.
And that is the point.
THE SECRET TO LIFE…ICE CREAM?
I once read about a 97-year-old woman who was asked what she would do differently if she had life to live over again.
Without hesitation, she said:
Eat more ice cream.
That did it for me.
I considered her a saint on the spot and went out to follow her advice.
Some wisdom arrives from mountaintops.
Some arrives from grandmothers.
Some arrives in a cone.
LESS IS MORE
Children understand less is more because less is all they have.
One cone.
One afternoon.
One ball.
One sidewalk.
One friend.
One more minute outside.
And somehow it is enough.
Adults complicate the living daylights out of everything.
More money.
More stuff.
More status.
More schedule.
More pressure.
More worry.
More planning.
Then we wonder why the kid with a dripping cone looks richer than we do.
The Pearls Series keeps returning to this same truth: life is not merely to be thought about; it is to be lived. In When Will Men Come Back Again?, I wrote that life is meant for “not just existing, but living an extraordinary life,” and finally stated it plainly: “Life is meant for living, not thinking.”
That belongs right here.
Because a child with ice cream is not thinking life.
He is living it.
KIDS DO CRAZY THINGS…SEZ WHO?
As a kid, I put lots of gum in my mouth just to see how much I could hold.
Adult response?
You could choke.
Kid response?
Let us find out.
Then I swallowed it afterward, believing it to be a fine meal.
My grandmother ruined that by telling me it would stick to my ribs.
For years, I walked around believing I had a chewing gum collection attached somewhere inside me.
This is what adults do.
They bring information where imagination was doing just fine.
KIDS CAN PLAY TO MAKE THEIR DAY
Children can play for hours.
No committee.
No clock.
No motivational speaker.
No productivity app.
Just play.
Then adults come out and say:
You must be tired.
You must be hungry.
Come inside.
But we were not tired.
We were not hungry.
We were busy living.
Do you remember begging for five more minutes?
Not because five minutes was five minutes.
Because five minutes was life.
EVERYONE LOVES A BALL
Give a child a ball and watch what happens.
Bounce it.
Throw it.
Catch it.
Miss it.
Chase it.
Laugh.
Try again.
The ball does not have to be expensive.
It does not need batteries.
It does not need instructions.
It just needs someone alive enough to play with it.
That is the child system at work.
Simple.
Immediate.
Joyful.
THE PEARLS LESSON
In Pearls for Girls, I wrote about staying in the moment and warned that life is happening “out here, not in there.” The same section says, “Life is to be lived and experienced,” and that each person’s portion is waiting to be claimed.
That is ice cream theology if you ask me.
The cone is here.
The day is here.
The child is here.
The moment is here.
What else are we waiting for?
PEARLS CONNECTION
This post belongs to the LIFE pillar of Pearls for the Soul.
It also touches PURPOSE because sometimes the purpose of a moment is simply to receive it fully.
The Pearls Series is designed to help readers “travel well and deep” and have “a unique story” of their adventure.
Sometimes that adventure is not across oceans.
Sometimes it is across a park with ice cream running down your wrist.
This is why PearlsForTheSoul.com matters.
The books support the posts.
The posts support the books.
And both keep pointing back to the reader.
You found me…
Now let’s find you.
WHAT THEN?
Eat the ice cream.
Play with the ball.
Stay out five more minutes when you can.
Let the inner child report for duty once in a while.
The adult has bills, duties, responsibilities, and appointments.
Fine.
Let the adult handle those.
But when joy shows up in a cone, on a stick, in a cup, or through a bouncing ball…
Please do not send an accountant to do a child’s job.
Taste it.
Enjoy it.
Live it.
And for heaven’s sake…
don’t let it drip away.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
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