na·ive or na·ïve  (n-v, nä-) also na·if or na·ïf (n-f, nä-)

adj.

1. Lacking worldly experience and understanding, especially:

a. Simple and guileless; artless: a child with a naive charm.

b. Unsuspecting or credulous: "Students, often bright but naive, betand losesubstantial sums of money on sporting events" (Tim Layden).

2. Showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgment: "this extravagance of metaphors, with its naive bombast" (H.L. Mencken).

3.

a. Not previously subjected to experiments: testing naive mice.

n.

One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical

Being naive is not a bad thing, in fact, it reminds us of "times of innocence."  It is also fun if your children or grandchildren are naive and believe the "unbelievable."  I remember when CJ was around 3 and Jeff was 5.  We had taken a trip to Florida.  In the hotel, the remote to the tv was built into the table-top of the table next to the bed.  CJ asked how to turn on the tv. I thought, "ok, I can have some fun with this!"  I told CJ to stand in front of the tv.  He was to blink his eyes once to turn on the tv, twice to turn it off, and to cross his arms and blink if he wanted to change the channel.  As he did this, Jeff and I worked the remote.  It was so funny to watch him doing exactly as instructed.  The first thing he would do when we got back to the room was to stand in front of the tv and madly blink his eyes.  Of course, he didn't think this was too funny when we told him the truth at the end of the trip.

Now I have grandchildren and you know where this is going.  All of them are under the age of 4, so the "naive-ness" is there.  Such as telling them that each time they eat a carrot, their eyes become more beautiful.  Of course with each bite , we have to exclaim of the transformation that is taking place.   Chicken is "princess meat" and makes your hair grow longer.  Brocoli makes you look like "Barbie."

Alessondra likes to feed the birds.  She carefully tears bread into tiny pieces and we spread the bread throughout the backyard.  Imagine her surprise to find out we had "birds of gratitude."  They even leave thank you notes for her.   I write a little note of thanks and even have "chicken scratch" on the note as their signature.  They somehow manage to leave it inside the door!!!

Hopefully, they won't be mad at me when they grow older.  The intent of my heart is purely one of fun and new ways to have them eat when they don't feel like it.

If we think about it, being naive or  the "age of innocence" was really not so bad. Our world consisted of   adults that  didn't lie, the boogy man wasn't disguised as a coach or a scout leader.  We could play outdoors until dark without a parent being present at all times.  Hugging a child, was just that and not mis-interpreted. We felt so safe and secure and didn't have any worries at all, except what was for dinner.  Here's to "being naive!"  Nindy