He Agreed That Was One Really Good Reason Not To Eat

Today L. and I were talking about how to evaluate situations, solutions, etc. by their pros and cons.  Recognizing that “quality vs. quantity” can come into play in making those decisions, my son asked me for an example of a situation with a lot of pros, but with one large con.

“Imagine you’ve been invited to a banquet in your honor,” I told him.  “All your favorite foods have been prepared, and they’re all done to perfection.  Everything looks amazing, smells amazing, tastes amazing, and so on.  That’s a lot of pros, right?”

L. nodded.

“The con is that everything has been poisoned,” I said with a chuckle.

And We Were Both Okay With That . . . More Or Less

“Are you ready for school?” I asked my son this morning.

There was no verbal answer from him, but his body language answered my question clearly enough.

“Not really thrilled with the idea, huh?”

“Not really,” he agreed.

Feeling the same way, I nodded in understanding.  “Well . . .” I said, “let’s get started anyway and see how it goes.”

“Are you saying ready or not it’s time for school?” my son asked me.

“I prefer ‘ready or not, here school comes,'” I admitted with a chuckle, “but that’s more or less what I’m saying, yes.”

Regardless, Happy Birthday, Son!

Yesterday was my son’s ninth birthday, and at some point it occurred to me that it also marked the half-way point to the start of his adulthood.

When I mentioned this to his mother she got a little misty-eyed.

When I mentioned this to my father he likened this to being at the half-way point of a marathon:  While technically it’s true that you only have as far to go as you have already gone, the second half is a lot more involved than the first.

It Really Would Be

Me:  (After dragging around the entire morning.)  Kiddo, I’m not sure that I’m sick today, but I’m going to act as if I am.  I mean I’m going to take care of myself like I would if I was sick, not that I’m going to start going around acting sick.

My son:  Yeah, that would be bad.

I Regret Nothing

The following is an excerpt from a play my son and I were having the other day:

The Narrator (a.k.a., my son):  You find yourself in one of “those” houses.

The Not-So-Brave Hero (a.k.a., me): (Thinking we must be thinking of different houses, but deciding to go with the joke anyway.)  Really?  But I don’t have any money!

The Narrator:  (Ignoring me)  You find yourself in the house of a grumpy cat.

The Not-So-Brave Hero:  A grumpy cat house, you say?  It’s grumpy because I don’t have any money, isn’t it?

Scaling Back My Caffeine Intake, I’m Looking At YOU!

It’s incredibly satisfying watching my son grasping a new concept.

It’s incredibly humbling to go back over some past entries here and getting a fresh reminder that I’m still struggling with some decidedly old concepts.

Today’s Advice For My Son

Any way you slice it, kiddo, by the time someone tells you that they’re feeling a certain way (be it frustrated, angry, sad, afraid, or what have you), they’ve been feeling that way for some time before that.  Learning to recognize the signs of those feelings before someone feels the need to say something about them will save you a lot of time and hassle.

But That Might Be Bit Of An Advanced Concept For Third Grade

One of the third grade goals for my son this year is to get him more comfortable with timed tests.  Naturally, he wanted to know why this was a goal.

“Lots of things in life are like timed tests, so it’s important to be able to work with time limits,” I told him, then I paused before adding, “In fact, some people would argue that life itself is a timed test.”

I Hope This Helps

Apparently there was some confusion out there over yesterday’s entry, which confused me for a moment before I realized that not everyone is proficient in L’s particular dialect of the language common to 8-going-on-9-year-olds.  To translate:

After a child makes a quick succession of requests/demands and an adult calls them out on it, any response other than fuss translates to “I see your point, and I’m just going to be quiet and get out of your way now.”

That’s What I Thought

My son:  Can I have some chips and salsa?

Me:  Sure!

My son:  Can you get me some water while you’re at it?

Me:  Yeah, I can do that.

My son:  Oh, and can you turn on the light for me?

Me:  Because I know you can’t reach it yourself, yes . . . yes, I can.

My son:  Ah!  Isa left something on the pad that needs to be cleaned up!  Can you clean it up?

Me:  Yeeeesss, but you’re already pretty deep in your requests to me, so it’s going to be a few moments before I get to that.  Plus, do you really want me to clean up after the dog before I handle the food you’re about to eat?

My son:  Just let me know when it’s safe to come to the table, okay?