Saturday, October 18, 2008

4 Year Old Reasoning

I was reminded several times yesterday of the burgeoning worldviews of my children...and how very careful I must be as I explain things to them.

There is a cemetery a couple of blocks from our home. We drive past it several times a day and there are frequently prisoners doing landscaping work. Because we tend to ascribe to a style of discipline where actions have related consequences, my R has decided that the 'pwis-on-urs' must be forced to clean up the cemetery on a daily basis because they made the mess. Now that it is Fall and there are many leaves and limbs on the ground he comments almost daily, "Wow! Dose pwisonurs made HUGE mess dis time, Momb." (That's how he pronounces Mom...'Momb.') I wish I could see in that little brain of his.

K is the most deductive of my three. Her comments are generally right on target in a way that is so blunt it frequently brings much laughter.
For example, yesterday afternoon my cell phone started ringing in the grocery store. I never answer my home phone, but am generally very available by cell. She pulled it out of my purse and handed it to me saying, "It's your phone, Mama!"
I silenced the ringer and told her I wasn't going to answer it right then.
"Yeah," she replied, "It is probably just somebody callin' to ask you for money."
Who knew she understood about telemarketers?

4 comments:

Love Being A Nonny said...

Amazing what they hear that we never realize they "take in". Oh be careful little ears what you hear...oh be careful little eyes what you see...remember that one?

My two year old niece was visiting last night. It was a little chilly so I lit the fireplace logs. She said "Oh, make M happy"...I love the sweet, sweet comments they make. thanks for sharing yours!!

Kate Geisen said...

How sweet. Kids are SO honest and SO perceptive. And yet, sometimes SO off track! We were reminded of that when my 4 year old and his older brothers's half brother and sister started talking about their families. They were SO off track about who belonged with whom. But even though my ex's little ones are under the impression that I'm their stepmom, what all of the kids understand is that they are very loved by everyone around them. :)

Your point about being careful in the way that we explain things is right on target, too. I had my 4 year old at the doctor's on Thursday. He has a sty on his eyelid, and the PA was explaining that it was important for him to have warm compresses put on his eye. "If you don't, it'll blow up," she told him. Anticipating the way his little brain was going to hear that, I quickly clarified that she meant blow up like a balloon would...not a bomb.

Megan @ Hold it Up to the Light said...

That made me LOL because I too have a 4 year old who understands telemarketers very well. She can even recognize a "1-800" number on the caller ID and will say "Don't worry about it, they just want your money"!

Love it!

Malu said...

Carpe diem ,and enjoy those precious moments , I just loved the pictures .