I pass by my son’s room the other day and notice that my son, Jacob, and my husband are playing with matchbox cars on the floor. How nice, I thought. Then I realize that they had another playmate- a stink bug, which they are gently running over with the cars. They would let it walk a little and then place the car on top of it, repeating this process over and over. Later that day, I find the stink bug dead (but not squished) under a car, so I throw it out.
The next day, as Jacob and I are driving to work he remembered about the stink bug. “Did you throw out my stink bug in my room?” he asked. I tell him I did and he lets out a whinny, “Why? I was going to keep it as a pet. Dada was going to make me a leash for it and he told me that I can walk it.”
My boy is so cute, I just love his innocence. We have many interesting conversations in the car. Jacob goes to a daycare at work and so we spend a lot of time together in the car. Jacob is upset that I threw out his potential pet. I try to be considerate and rationalize howhaving a stink bug for a pet would work out for us. Kids believe anything. I ask Jacob where he even thinks his dad would get a leash small enough for a stink bug. He tells me that dada is going to make a leash for him with a tone of surety on where he would get this leash and doubt on my ability (or lack thereof) to comprehend how easy it is to acquire a stink bug leash.
There’s no point in trying to explain to him that having a stink bug for a pet is just not the best idea. Jacob believes many things are possible- he is 4 years old and has not been around long enough to see reality as we know it. I try anyway and ask him whether he would walk this stink bug and pick up its poop, a most stink bug pet owners would. Jacob is unwilling to do this. I thought, well there you go, a convincing example of why we could not keep a stink bug as a pet. The conversation is over-- until Jacob asks me if he can just find another stink bug and keep that one as a pet.
Jacob reminds me of how I believed so many things are possible when I was younger. I had a vivid imagination; I would take an idea and run wild with it. That part of me is still here, but most of that is gone. Years of being conditioned to “get real” and that not everything is possible, has vanished most of that childhood imagination. I remind myself not to discourage my children’s imagination. I guess trying to explain to him the impossibility of a pet stink bug is going against this. I need to lighten up. So what if he ends up getting beaten up at school for being crazy and believing in ridiculous things? He is bound to meet many road blocks along the way, as we all do, a little bit of imagination would do him no harm.
The next day, as Jacob and I are driving to work he remembered about the stink bug. “Did you throw out my stink bug in my room?” he asked. I tell him I did and he lets out a whinny, “Why? I was going to keep it as a pet. Dada was going to make me a leash for it and he told me that I can walk it.”
My boy is so cute, I just love his innocence. We have many interesting conversations in the car. Jacob goes to a daycare at work and so we spend a lot of time together in the car. Jacob is upset that I threw out his potential pet. I try to be considerate and rationalize howhaving a stink bug for a pet would work out for us. Kids believe anything. I ask Jacob where he even thinks his dad would get a leash small enough for a stink bug. He tells me that dada is going to make a leash for him with a tone of surety on where he would get this leash and doubt on my ability (or lack thereof) to comprehend how easy it is to acquire a stink bug leash.
There’s no point in trying to explain to him that having a stink bug for a pet is just not the best idea. Jacob believes many things are possible- he is 4 years old and has not been around long enough to see reality as we know it. I try anyway and ask him whether he would walk this stink bug and pick up its poop, a most stink bug pet owners would. Jacob is unwilling to do this. I thought, well there you go, a convincing example of why we could not keep a stink bug as a pet. The conversation is over-- until Jacob asks me if he can just find another stink bug and keep that one as a pet.
Jacob reminds me of how I believed so many things are possible when I was younger. I had a vivid imagination; I would take an idea and run wild with it. That part of me is still here, but most of that is gone. Years of being conditioned to “get real” and that not everything is possible, has vanished most of that childhood imagination. I remind myself not to discourage my children’s imagination. I guess trying to explain to him the impossibility of a pet stink bug is going against this. I need to lighten up. So what if he ends up getting beaten up at school for being crazy and believing in ridiculous things? He is bound to meet many road blocks along the way, as we all do, a little bit of imagination would do him no harm.
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