Thomas, looking out the window this morning, "Mommy, I see Isaac's grown-ups getting in their car."
Me: "Well, they're probably going to work."
Thomas: "But Daddies don't go to work in their car. They go on the train."
I remember when I was kid, I was always trying to fit my observations of grown-up life into some sort of recognizable pattern. There are so many concepts which are common and well-understood at the adult level that must just baffle children. I'm sure Thomas doesn't even really know what "going to work" means other than Nate leaving us in the morning and coming back home in the evening.
The most terrifying logical fallacy I had as a kid was that when a man and woman got married, his parents died (because my father's parents had died before I was born, while my mom's parents were still living). This didn't really bother me at first, not until I realized that the person most likely to get married among my siblings was my oldest brother. Ahh! Imminent parental death! Well, I'm glad to say they're still kicking and my brother has been married twenty+ years now. Then again, is it more or less terrifying that death follows no logical pattern, can't be predicted with certainty, and instead hangs a little pallor on us all the time?
Sometimes being the knowledgeable adult isn't much better.
Me: "Well, they're probably going to work."
Thomas: "But Daddies don't go to work in their car. They go on the train."
I remember when I was kid, I was always trying to fit my observations of grown-up life into some sort of recognizable pattern. There are so many concepts which are common and well-understood at the adult level that must just baffle children. I'm sure Thomas doesn't even really know what "going to work" means other than Nate leaving us in the morning and coming back home in the evening.
The most terrifying logical fallacy I had as a kid was that when a man and woman got married, his parents died (because my father's parents had died before I was born, while my mom's parents were still living). This didn't really bother me at first, not until I realized that the person most likely to get married among my siblings was my oldest brother. Ahh! Imminent parental death! Well, I'm glad to say they're still kicking and my brother has been married twenty+ years now. Then again, is it more or less terrifying that death follows no logical pattern, can't be predicted with certainty, and instead hangs a little pallor on us all the time?
Sometimes being the knowledgeable adult isn't much better.
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