...... People Mummy, They Are Just People!

I know that everyone is proud of their children, every time Tilly does anything that makes me proud; my heart just wants to melt.  We live in a small corner of the south-eastern part of England and although it is a high poverty hit part of the country, we don’t often see it on the streets like we do in major cities like London.

We went to London on Sunday and she asked me why it keeps happening, why people have to sleep on the streets of London? Why can’t people help them? I can’t answer these questions for her because sometimes I don’t understand homelessness myself!

We arrived in Leicester Square and were dashing towards a cinema, when Tilly said 'Wait Mum!' she took my shopping bag and rummaged through some of my shopping and took out two chocolate bars. She ran over to a door way where there were people huddled up underneath sleeping bags trying to sleep whilst keeping warm on the cold winter morning. She carefully placed a chocolate bar next to each of the people trying to sleep and walked away with such pride in her eyes and a grin so huge! She then took another chocolate bar from my bag and gave it to someone who had just woken up. She then walked back to me and took my hand saying 'Okay, lets go now' 

We went to the cinema and enjoyed our film, we left and went to McDonalds for a treat at lunch time. The town where we live doesn't have a McDonalds so when we go to one, it is such a treat. But we don't often think about how convenient and available it is to us! I had money to go and treat Tilly to lunch, others are not so lucky! When we had finished we walked back to the tube, and she walked past another homeless person holding up a sign made out of a ripped up card. She took an unopened bottle of water from my bag and gave it to him. He was so thankful and again she walked away with a smile as big as the Cheshire cat! 

We headed down the tube and the next stop was St Pancras, But Tilly wasn't finished yet, she saw a busker told me to stop and reached in to her own back pack, took out her purse and rummaged for some coins to give to the busker. When we got on the tube, because I wanted to know how much she actually understood, I asked her 'What do you call a person who lives on the street?' she looked at me like an innocent 5 year old would and she replied with 'People mummy, They're just people'.

It made me realise that she doesn't see them as anything other than the people they are and that she has so much compassion for other people. It made me realise that my little girl is 5 years old and she thinks she can help people that are worse off than her and that she is actively doing something to bring a bit of joy to their lives. When I told my aunt about what she had done, she told me off and said I wasn't to tell anyone about her good deeds (so obviously here I am telling the whole world, because I am so proud). 

This isn't the first time that she has been so kind towards other people, you can read more here and here. I am pretty sure it won't be the last time that she is so kind to people less fortunate than her. She is a pleasure to bring up and I am extremely proud to call her my daughter.