3.04.2007

Out of the mouths of babes. Really. Bright. Babes...

The scene: I'm the lone adult in a living room of children. They are, my girls (Paige, 3 and Emily, 7) and our good friends' children; Rebekah, age 7 and Jack, age 5. The kids are being silly with each other and I'm sitting on the couch just watching and listening to them interact with each other.

Paige (to Jack): "I want us to get married."

Jack: "No way! You can marry Rebekah instead!"

Emily: "She can't marry a girl, Jack!"

Rebekah: "Yeah, that's against the law." (Looking in my direction expectantly, probably waiting for my nod of confirmation.)

So every now and again I've come across these moments of parenting where the natural progression of a conversation will allow me to plant a seed in the young minds of my children (and in this case my friends' children) without seeming overly preachy because, hey, I didn't bring it up in the first place, right? And so, sensing the opportunity for a lesson, I non-chalantly throw in to the conversation something along the lines of:

Me: "Well actually, if she wanted to marry a girl that would be okay. And if Jack wanted to marry a boy that would be okay too."

Emily: "But Mom, that's against the law!"

Me: "Well yeah, it's not really allowed for women to marry women or men to marry men, but that's something that there shouldn't really be laws about. Laws are supposed to protect people and keep things safe and fair for everyone. Do you think it would hurt anyone or be unfair if two people who loved each other very much got married - even though they're both boys or both girls?"

Emily: "No, that wouldn't hurt anyone." (After a short pause) "Then Mom, I think that's a dumb law."

Me: "Yeah, me too."

Enter the dads with take-out chinese.

Paige: "Mommy, I want to eat right here in the living room. Please? Can I? Please?"

Me: (we're at our friends' house by the way) "Nope. That's against the rules. We're all going to eat at the kitchen table."

Emily: "But Mom, is it really going to hurt anyone if she eats in the living room?"

I explode from the pride. End scene.

-----

Speaking of Emily...she's been pretty interested in the fact that Dave and I have been keeping these blogs. On Friday she asked me if she could have her own blog and I told her (because, frankly, I was having a beer and didn't feel like dealing with it) that we'd talk about it on Saturday. Well, yesterday morning we talked about it and I told her I would help her set up a blog. And so we did. And so she does.

As part of the process of setting up her blog I also had to set her up with her own email address. I researched the ultra-safe email programs designed for kids (this one and this one), but alas, they are not free and I wasn't ready to shell out the bucks just yet. I ended up getting her a gmail address and setting it up so that all of her incoming emails get copied to my gmail adress. That way I figure I can monitor what's going on in her account and that she's not being targeted by any creepy pedophiles, porn peddlers and the like. So, if you're family or a friend and want to send her an email, let me know and I'll send you the email address.

Note: If you're a pedophile, a pornographer, selling Viagra or Cialis, or have any other creepy intentions and you happen to get a hold of her email address, and you happen to solicit her, I will hunt you down and make your life a living hell.

So anyway, I felt a little strange setting up email and a blog for my seven year old. But, for the moment she loves it and it's encouraging her to write and be creative, so it cant be too bad, right? Right?

1 comment:

Judy said...

You write the funniest things! I love reading your blog. I like the new look. See you soon