Two pairs of puppy eyes gazed up at me beseechingly. While you could be forgiven for mistaking it these were not puppies but small children who, while bearing a marked resemblance to the former are thirty times more accident prone and have hearts filled with darkness.

“It was mine first!” “WAS NOT!” “WAS TOO” “WAS---“

“What exactly are we talking about?” I asked exhausted. They swiveled their heads to look at me astonished that I hadn’t been able to keep up with their conversation.

“Suzy took the yellow crayon, and I was using it!” “Were not!” “WERE TOO!”

“She wasn’t using it Meg, she wasn’t, she was using the blue for the sky!” “The sun is part of the sky stupid.” “SHE CALLED ME STUPID”

“Oy! Attention” I said snapping my fingers. “Here is what we are going to do. Matthew you had the yellow crayon first so why don’t you take it first—“

“HAH!”

“Wait…and Suzy you can use this special silver crayon, ok? And then when you’re done you two will swap”

....

“BUT I WANT THE SILVER CRAYON”

[Especially in mentor relationships there’s always an aspect of needing to judge and to judge fairly, especially with little children who are extremely sensitive to partiality.]