Posts Tagged ‘kids’

There’s a book fair on this week at school, and I gave Maddy two $10 notes to take as she’s got her eye on a special notebook and pencils for sale there. She told me that they’re only allowed to take $10 at a time, so I suggested she leave one $10 note at home and bring it the next day. This is the conversation that followed:

Maddy: No, I’ll keep it in my wallet.

Me: I wouldn’t do that – someone might try to steal it.

Maddy: No, I’m not worried about that. They won’t.

Me: Well, it’s happened before, kids taking money out of other people’s wallets.

Maddy: They won’t steal it from mine – it’s got a peace sign on it.

Me: Erm, what’s that got to do with anything? That won’t stop them.

Maddy: Ohhh, yes it will Mum, believe me.

Me: How will a peace sign stop people from stealing money out of your wallet?

Maddy: Because people are afraid of it.

Me: What?!

Maddy: Peace signs scare people.

Me: What do you mean ‘peace signs scare people’???!!!

Maddy: People are afraid of it.

Me: But why do you think that?

Maddy: There was a kid at school who had a hat with a peace sign on it. Another kid came up, took one look at it, and ran away scared.

Me: Riiiiight……

Maddy: So my money will be safe in my wallet.

Me: O—-kay then…

MADDY: “Did you know that there are two places on your body, that if you get shot there, you will die instantly?”

BEN: “Where, Maddy?”

MADDY: “Your head & your neck – you will die instantly if you get shot there.”

BEN: “Not necessarily, I’ve heard of people who’ve been shot in the head or the neck and survived.”

MADDY: “No, Ben. (humouring his ignorance!) That’s just what you see in movies – in real life if you get shot in the head or the neck, you will always die instantly….(thinks for a moment)…unless you can get to a hospital.”

As parents, it’s our job to teach our children how to be good, moral, honest and caring people – a huge responsibility for which our longer life experience hopefully kits us out for the task, but occasionally the tables are turned and despite their tender years, kids end up teaching us something profound instead. That recently happened to me.

I used to be amazed at my friend Bella’s incredible selflessness when it came to dealing with her ex and what she told her children about him. Although she had plenty to gripe about her life with him to me, she never ever said a bad word to her children about him. He stopped seeing them when they were small, but she never told them about any of the bad times she’d endured with him. I asked her why she never told them the truth, and she said that they didn’t need to know any of that – that that bad period had been between her and her ex, and she didn’t want any of that vindictiveness in her children’s lives now. As I said, I was amazed, because I’d been doing exactly the opposite.

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