Has Earned Some Perspective

     Perspective comes with age and it can't be rushed.  Take, for example, a young person's musical tastes.  Liam is perpetually seeking out his own brand of "rock star" music.  When he finds it, he breaks into a semi-violent air guitar routine which inevitably ends up knocking him off his own feet and giving me a headache (I have much to look forward to in ten years).  One night we were having a family dance party and taking requests.  Liam kept saying, "That's not hard enough!"  Now my husband was one of those kids who made the whole house shake with his musical choices in high school... so our CD collection is not lacking in hard rock and even some stuff that's so hard it makes my eyes roll back in my head.  After Liam kept asking for harder, Bill finally gave in and put on a Napalm Death CD (of course, we didn't tell Liam the name of the band).  We were informed that Napalm Death was not hard enough.  I suggested Pantera. Still not hard enough for Liam.  That's saying quite a lot.  I remember the first time I heard Pantera when I was in my teens and just at the sound of it, it made me cry.  So when Liam didn't think Pantera was hard enough, we were a bit perplexed.  Until Liam said in a disappointed voice, [sigh] "I should have just put on my Chimpunks rock and roll CD."  Oh, perspective.  That's what he wanted.  And while it wasn't exactly "hard" listening to the chipmunks sing  "Three Little Birds", that was Liam's perspective on what hard rock and roll really was.  So we gladly obliged (but somehow my headache got worse).
     Oh perspective. How can I explain to Liam how it's simply not possible that he "loves Christmas more than I love him"?  Well, to tell the complete story, he first told me that he loves Christmas more than he loves me.  Then to top it off, he told me that his love for Christmas was more than my love for him.  Really?  How could I change that perspective so that the next day he wouldn't go wandering into his Jewish preschool telling people all about how his love of Christmas supersedes my love for him?  I asked him why he loves Christmas.  Because of the toys, the fun and the playing is what he said.  I thought about why I love Christmas.  Because of seeing his joy, eating good food, giving gifts I know people will love, the surprise, the tradition, the food that other people cooked, the snacks, the chocolate- back to topic- the warm cheeks by the fire, the happy music, the feeling of relaxation knowing that it's the beginning of vacation (now I'm fantasizing again). My point in my own head was that his perspective was still so shallow that, while he does appreciate all of those things, he still doesn't find them to be the defining moments of this special family holiday.  He just likes the presents and toys and playing.  And then the other part- how could he possibly compare my love for him to his love of Christmas?  I told him that I loved him way more than I love Christmas but that still didn't seem to sway his opinions.  I said, "Liam, you love Christmas way up into the sky, right?  Well, I love you deep into the earth."  He still didn't get it.  Instead he giggled and we digressed into lists of what we loved about each other (with him copying most of what I said and/or stating things he saw in front of him like- as we pulled up to the basketball net in our driveway, "I love you because you let me play basketball"). 
     And the truth is, a love of a human being is far deeper than a love of a special day.  And how long will it take for Liam to truly realize the depth of his feelings?  And to gain perspective on musical preferences?  I'm thinking that we have more hope for the latter and I'm also thinking of getting him some really good headphones for Christmas sometime before he turns 14.