Recently, my kid thought it would be fun to drag his sippy-cup along the living room wall.
His mother asked him to stop as the wall was newly painted.
The kid then responded: "I'm just a little kid, I don't understand bad things."
I then asked if having his fire truck, dump truck, combine harvestor taken away might help him understand "bad" things?
The kid answered in the affirmative.
Sometimes parenting just works like that. (Other times it involves threatening to stuff food up the toddler's nose -- but that's just a threat, not actually acted upon).
Postscript: The kid got the idea at daycare after a one-year old took away a toy, and it was explained to him that the other kid was too young and did not understand what he had done. My kid thought this alibi was pretty good, and appropriated it.
And so it goes.
It reminds me of W.H. Auden, who said "Children are warriors without a job."
1 comment:
I hope the day care teacher also told the one-year-old to return the toy.
Ignorance is bliss, I suppose, until you're too old to be ignorant.
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