Tralee Just Informed Me. . .

Tralee just informed me that she's not going to have a baby when she grows up.  Actually she first asked, "Mom, how can I make sure I don't have a baby when I grow up?"  I wasn't sure where this question was going, and to be honest, I haven't read any of the how-to-talk-birds-and-bees-with-your-kid books.  So I simply answered, "Well, when you're grown up and married, you and your husband get to decide if and when you want to have a baby."  Then she said, "Ok good, because I DO NOT want to have a baby."  I asked her why and she said, "Because I'm going to be a famous artist."  When I told her she could be an artist and a mommy her response was,  "But, what if I'm really busy with my art?  I won't have time to take care of a baby. . . and the daddy will be working hard too.  Who's going to take care of a baby with our busy lives?"  Really?  

I told her if she and her husband are as famous and hard-working as she described, they can probably hire help (yes, this is an actual conversation I had with a six-year-old), and I also told her I will always help her whenever I can.  Then she got quiet and said,  "Well I know I can get help and you'll always help, but I also don't want a baby because . . . . I really don't want to push a baby out!"  She said this with a grossed out look on her face.  Lovely.  Also, I wasn't sure how to respond to that.  I think my eyebrows raised for a few seconds while I thought of the appropriate thing to say.  Nothing really came.

I sat with a blank look on my face until I eventually told Tralee I hope she changes her mind about the baby thing when she grows up because I want to be a grandma.  I also suggested that she not worry about that kind of thing right now because, you know, she's only six.  And, as wise as six-year-olds are (wink), as of right now she only needs to worry about being kind to her peers, learning new sight words, figuring out her math problems, listening to her teachers and parents, and making new friends at recess.

Sometimes my kids ask me questions or say things and I'm like, "This is one of those moments where my response could either build within them a healthy understanding of the purpose of life, or I could scar and ruin them forever."  I'm afraid I do the later far more than I should.  It's also times like these that the Parenting THIS Child guide book they should pass out with each birth, that doesn't really exist, would come it handy.  It would make raising them so much easier.  Oh well.

That's all for now.