Love my girl. We were having breakfast the other morning--it was a rare day when A slept until 10AM--and we had a great talk. At one point, I had to start writing stuff down while we talked because her thoughts were so cute.
R: Mom, I want to be a doctor when I grow up.
Me: Good for you!
Ru: When I was little, I thought princesses were real, so I said, "I want to be a princess when I grow up!" But now I know they aren't real, so I want to be a doctor.
Me: You'd be a great doctor.
Pause
R: I wish I could get lots of owies so I could go to the doctor and I could write down how they fix me so when I'm a mom, I could now how to be a doctor.
Me: Yeah, but you don't like owies!
R: Yeah, how do you get to be a doctor!?
Me: You go to doctor school for a long time when you are bigger.
R: Oh good. I don't want lots of owies.
Then we switched subjects...
Looking at my wedding ring,
R: Mom, how do you make rings?
I explained about how metal melts, blah blah..."then you put the diamond in."
R: Where do diamonds come from?
Me: People find them in the dirt.
R looking toward the back yard: So if I dig and dig, will I find a diamond?
Me: No they are usually found in other countries like in Africa. (guilt)
R: I wish I lived in Africa.
Now, I am not the kind of person who can leave it at that.*
Me: Oh, I think you should feel really lucky you get to live here. There are children in Africa who have to go to work all day digging for diamonds. (guilt, guilt) They aren't treated nicely and they don't have food to eat when they are hungry. (guilt, guilt, guilt) Some of them don't have their moms and dads either.
R: I want you and me to go to Africa and daddy can go to work and send us money so we can buy the kids food.
I went on to talk to her about where we already give our money that goes to hungry children all over the world, and she felt better.
*So is anyone else anxious that their kids don't know how good they have it? I know they are little and that sad things in history and currently happening around the world would trouble them unnecessarily, but at the same time, they need to know how lucky they are to live in a free country, have loving parents and time to be a kid. I don't know, maybe I tell them stuff like this too often, but it's hard to see them come undone over small things that are really evidence of their plentiful existence.
1 comment:
I feel like I lecture all the time. I was just talking to the kids about when I went to Russia and how much different it was than our country. Actually the election this year was fun for us & gave us some great conversations. Pierce said he wanted McCain to win because Obama called our house TOO much (TRUE!). But the kids were very philosophical about it - Mattie said "it's not like President Obama is going to come by our house every day or something..."
Okay I got sidetracked - you are susceptible to the same lectures I am, evidently, and hopefully that's a good thing in the end. :)
Pam
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