The other day, my 4 yr old found this magazine sitting in the rack beside the recliner. For obvious reasons, it caught her eye. She grabbed it, brought it over to me, and the following conversation ensued:
El: Dad. What’s this?
Me: It’s a magazine.
El: But what’s this green thing.
El has been going through a “scared” phase lately. Anything remotely fright-inducing gets fixated on for days, and is undoubtedly brought up in conversations around bedtime.
Me: It’s…uhhh…it’s a big green slug. [lie]
El: Oh. What’s it doing to that man.
Me: I don’t know. [lie]
El: It looks like he’s eatin’ him. [busted]
Me: Yeah. I guess it does, now that you mention it.
El: What does this say? [pointing to the headline on the magazine. this, i found out a
t
preschool parent/teacher conferences last week puts her ahead of the developmental curve. most kids are a litt
le older before they realize printed words carry meaning. and they're certainly much older before they're reading The Economist. just sayin'.]
Me: “Stop! The Backlash Against Big Government”
El: [pointing to the big green thing] Is that Big Government? [what a brilliant child. i think she gets it from her mother]
Me: [busted again] Yes. Yes, it is.
El: Well, I don’t like Big Government. It eats people.
Priceless.
Renew and Restore
