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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Conversations with a Four-Year-Old: Just Wait 'Til He Finds Out Where Chicken Nuggets Come From



At the library, MOTHER and CHILD read a book about insects together.

CHILD: Is that dragonfly eating a butterfly?

MOTHER: Actually, I think that dragonfly is eating a moth.

CHILD: But moths are like butterflies. I like moths and butterflies! That dragonfly should not eat butterflies. Why do dragonflies eat butterflies?

MOTHER: Well, lots of insects eat other insects. All sorts of animals eat other animals. That's just the way the world is. Besides, dragonflies eat lots of bugs we don't like, too. Like mosquitoes! Mosquitoes bite people, right? And dragonflies eat mosquitoes. So we should be happy when we see a dragonfly. More dragonflies means fewer mosquitoes.

CHILD: It still shouldn't eat butterflies.

Later, at home, CHILD watches as MOTHER scrubs toilet.

CHILD: Are you washing that toilet with water?

MOTHER: No. I'm cleaning it with a mixture of water and bleach.

CHILD: Why are you using bleach?

MOTHER: I am using bleach to clean the toilet because bleach kills germs.

CHILD: You mean, after you use bleach to clean the toilet, the germs will be dead?

MOTHER: Yes.

CHILD (accusingly): What germs are you killing?!?

MOTHER: E. coli, for one.

CHILD: But I like E. coli!

MOTHER: No, you don't. Really. At least, not outside of your intestines you don't.

CHILD: Hmph. You should not kill so many things.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i know, i know. . . everytime you post a conversation with isaac, i go completely ga-ga and you make me want to have children and everything's all rainbows and kittens and ice cream trucks.

but i so love that you're recording these; i always picture isaac's response when he reads these in twenty years. i love it.

Jakki said...

'but I like E Coli'...man...priceless.

I wish I had kept a journal or something of convo's like this with my kids when they were younger.

Kim said...

Chicken nuggets don't come from chickens?

Lisa said...

Issac cracks me up!

Now I'm going to have "But I like E Coli" stuck in my head for the next week. (As in waiting in line at the bank or grocery, remember those words, giggle, have people wonder if I'm crazy.)

josetteplank.com said...

You have a blooming Buddhist on your hands.

Anonymous said...

He's so smart. I can picture the two of you having these conversations.