We were stopped in a parking lot just off the freeway while I was nursing Henry. We were exhausted from our kids crying, and both Dave and I were kind of talking and zoning out. Isaac was in the back seat talking. Like I said, we were kind of zoned out, so I was answering Isaac with generic answers, "Uh-huh, oh yeah, okay Isaac." (It made me so mad when my mom did that to me, but what can you do?) Finally it clicked in my mind what he was saying and I realized it was a very important teaching moment that I was failing! Here are the bits and pieces I recalled once I realized what he was talking about.
"Look Mommy, that guy has FIRE coming out of his mouth."
"That's cool Mommy, he can blow smoke out of his mouth."
"He just puts that stick in his mouth and then he blows out the smoke."
"Yeah, when I get big like him, then I will put a stick in my mouth and I will blow out FIRE!"
"AHHHHHHH, no Isaac!" (What a sheltered life he lives in Utah that he's never noticed a person smoking in him almost 4 years!) We explained to him that smoking really wasn't something to aspire to. We don't smoke because it is bad for our bodies and can make us so sick that we can die. He recalled this experience several times since then, and everytime he talks about how sad it is that the guy is going to die. I'm not sure how accurate his understanding of smoking is, but it definitely is an improvement from him wanting to do that when he got big!
2 comments:
that's funny! Did you read my story about smoking in my blog? Kids have such a cut and dry thought process about it - if you smoke, you die! I'm stealing your smoking sign. Where did you get it? Is there just a place to get all of these cut-outs?
Anyway, I'd love to hear from you!
LUVS!
i totally do that zone-out thing. *shameful* but at least you caught it!
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