It is true that certain things appear in their evidence when you least expect it: maybe you think about it for days and then, suddenly, without any warning, they show themselves under their eyes in all their evidence, so you can’t do anything but learn from the happened and treasure what you saw.
As it happened to me today: the beach, despite the period, was half empty and even umbrellas and deckchairs were still closed waiting for a wet one. When it happens that a young boy, no more than thirty years old, arrives loaded with merchandise, with a big backpack on his shoulders and a big bag in his hand. They are followed by two nannerattoli, one blond and the other brown, of 7/8 years each, with their backpack, fully loaded and with a lively and curious look. From the few words that the three exchange, I realize that the little family is not Italian, probably German. I confess that the three immediately catch my attention, since it is not usual to see such a young boy walking on the beach with two kids following him. But that’s what happens after I am surprised: the three support the whole load on two beds that they hire and start preparing for the day. You know how German children are: generally quite independent and autonomous. They make their own, without the parents getting lost in too many frills. And yet the young boy shows a particular care towards his two little children: he puts on their swimsuits, beach sandals and makes them wear funny armrests for the sea. Once the preparations are over, the three venture on the rocks to jump off the rocks. Already this would be enough to create some wonder: how many boys of that age have maturity and dedication to take care of two children, satisfying their needs and desires? without the parents getting lost in too many frills. And yet the young boy shows a particular care towards his two little children: he puts on their swimsuits, beach sandals and makes them wear funny armrests for the sea. Once the preparations are over, the three venture on the rocks to jump off the rocks. Already this would be enough to create some wonder: how many boys of that age have maturity and dedication to take care of two children, satisfying their needs and desires? without the parents getting lost in too many frills. And yet the young boy shows a particular care towards his two little children: he puts on their swimsuits, beach sandals and makes them wear funny armrests for the sea. Once the preparations are over, the three venture on the rocks to jump off the rocks. Already this would be enough to create some wonder: how many boys of that age have maturity and dedication to take care of two children, satisfying their needs and desires?
But the story does not end there: after a few minutes, when the three were already launching themselves from the rocks (creating some apprehension for us Italic parents that we are not accustomed to these dexterities …) a girl arrives, just as young, with two children below, a little girl tripping next to her and a boy of a few months sleeping in her arms. The young woman, also a foreigner, goes to settle under the same umbrella … and so the children become four …
It makes a certain impression to contemplate that vigorous youthful vitality destined for caring parental care. The young foreigner, lively and hyperactive like any other boy, dispensed all his energy by doing things with his children: after the launch from the rocks, he moved on to playing on the beach, swimming offshore with his daughter, distributing his snack mid-morning, without missing a cuddle to the youngest child and to what makes the whims. What is surprising is the naturalness with which the young person takes care of children: with loose and casual gestures, not marked by any effort or apparent sacrifice. When he takes the water bottle, he passes it to each family member, worrying that we all have a little to drink.
I confess that when I think of so many young people of his age who still “admire their navel”, I marvel at the natural and joyful care that that thirty year old boy experiences for his four children. There is no lamentation, no murmur, on the contrary, one perceives a cheerful serenity even in those attentions that certainly required not a little commitment to the young man.
And I said to myself: here, perhaps the care, the attention and the dedication, today has the face of this young and sunny German father. At the center of his life there is not him, his needs and requirements, but those four little brats he brought into the world and who now looks after them with unusual solicitude. I am sure: if the care is what distinguishes us parents, that dad, young and inexperienced, gave me a valuable lesson.
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