You know, like why is the sky blue, or how does water get in our sink faucets – where do babies come from – Stuff like that. Instead she asks about the banking system, and evolution, and how language evolved, what the “first” people wore, and Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth fairy – and not easy questions about those “people” – hard ones. Like how did Santa start doing what he does? Who was the first kid he visited? How can he afford all of this? I tried to tell her that Santa is a spirit, a feeling that each one of us have inside of us, and people all over the world carry on the work of Santa – just short of saying that I am Santa…it is me! And that seemed to pacify her for a while, but now the questions are coming again, and including Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy questions as well. I HATE having to answer these questions, because I feel as though I am lying to my own child! Dare me to tell her??
Anyway, this post isn’t about Santa – it is about our conversation earlier today…the banking system one. Why can’t she settle for an “I keep my money in the bank so that it will be safe and I won’t loose it” LOL. She wants to know about checks, why I use those, why the check I was depositing is the same as money, what the banks do with my money, what the store does when I write them a check, where the first money came from, who physically makes money, and why can’t they make more of it so that we can buy whatever we want…that leads to a conversation about the government and taxes.
But here is a funny – the conversation started innocently enough, and I did try to limit it to the answer of “I keep my money in the bank so it will be safe” – her response to that was “How do they keep it safe? Do they keep your money in a big jar or something?” LOL
I love that kid.
LOL! What an engaged and aware little thing! Q has always been rather oblivious. Like, he just lost his 7th tooth last night, and bad parents forgot to do the TF thing. It didn’t even occur to him to question the existence of TF! He just said, “Oh, she must have been busy….” and got on with his morning.
L on the other hand–watch out, I can tell this is going to be a wild ride!
G
Ok, and this is my DD Rachel. No, nothing like where do babies come from. No, nothing that easy. It was always things like: What does long mean? Why do we call it time? Butterfly? Thank goodness for my etamology dictionairy – of course often I read the entries and don’t understand.
R now knows all about THE Triad – Santa/Easter Bunny/TF. It was sooo sad and she simply said that she was hurt that we’d lied to her and that while she was glad that she got to enjoy it all and she will do it all with her children cause it’s fun, she really wishes that we’d told her when she was a baby that it was all just for fun and to help make the experience more enjoyable. And yes, she thought about what she’d said and realized that even had we told her the full out truth when she was a baby that she “might not remembered.” Despite all her knowledge, she still sat on Santa’s lap this past Christmas and she was sad to realize that she’d forgotten to tell him one thing she really wanted. Go figure!