You can’t hide greatness – especially from kids. We’d spent the winter solstice (+ 1) at a kid friendly wine farm. Weather was spectacular. Kids and adults had a great time. Loads of jungle gym type things to keep the daughters entertained. At various stages throughout the day I tried to get some photos of daughter 1 at play because I love taking them and more importantly because I’ve noticed she’s getting very shy as she grows up. She’s gone from wanting to be in front of whatever camera happened to be around to not wanting to be near one. Could be just a stage or she’s beginning to develop issues with her self-esteem. Who knows. She’s only 4 and a half. Every attempt to get a photo was thwarted with a turned head, pulled face, whinge. I gave up in the end. Skip to end of day and daughter 1 and I are walking to the car whilst everyone else  said packed up. To the left stood a 10 foot high statue of Nelson Mandela with one of his loud shirts and a walking stick in his hand. Daughter 1 grabbed me ‘Daddy please take a some photos of me with Nelson Mandela. Please’ She shot off and planted herself next to him, standing bolt upright with her little chest puffed out and smiling. I took a picture. Her head came up just above his knee. ‘Take another one. This time I want to hug him.’ She hugged his calf tight and I snapped away. ‘Now I want to stand in front of him and hug him again.’ I did what I was told, my mind racing. ‘Daddy I want you to put the pictures on Facebook so everyone knows I love Nelson Mandela.’ ‘Sweetie of course I will.’ She laughed and skipped back to me. Nelson Mandela died about 6 months after we moved back to South Africa. He was not a part of her life in Sydney. She hadn’t heard of him. So this well aimed love for a man she’d only heard about recently was staggering. She wasn’t fawning over One Direction or Katy Perry it was Madiba. How awesome is that? You can’t hide greatness. Especially from kids.