Me and Flea, we have this amazing bond.
Maybe because it’s just the two of us, but we just click. Honestly. Maybe it's just my natural gift with children, but we have the most brilliant, amazing chats.
Like yesterday, I picked up Flea from school, took her to Karate and then home for dinner. We sat down together at the table and the conversation flowed like – well, I’d say fine wine, but she’s four, so let’s go for orange juice.
Me: So, how was today at school?
Flea: Alright
Me: Just alright. Did you do anything fun?
Flea looks at the ceiling and scrunches up her face. Time passes. Leaves fall from the trees outside.
Me: Hard question?
Flea: I just can’t remember.
Me: Okay, did you learn some new moves at karate?
Flea (enthusiastically) Yes!
Me: What sort?
Flea: Can’t remember.
Me: Okay, so you don’t remember school or karate. What shall we talk about?
Flea (triumphantly): I remember playtime.
Me: Great, did you play something fun?
Flea: I played dogs with Zara.
Me: Cool. How do you play that?
Flea: I don’t remember.
See? Magical, isn't it? And so, like generations of parents that have gone before me, I ask the one question that I know will elicit a response formed of more than five words.
Me: What was for lunch?
I love dinner time with the children, precious time of the day, we were regalled with tales of fire engines and holding on to the hose yesterday by mini
Mine don’t even remember what they’ve had for lunch!
See you must have a magic because like the previous commenter, mine can’t even remember what they had for lunch!
hahahahaha! Thank god it’s not just me. I get it in unison from the twins both say exactly the same at the same moment and then look at each other and burst into fits of laughter ! It gets worse too, my 15 yr old son barely says a word these days unless it to ask for his phone to be topped up or to tell me he needs a lift somewhere .
Ha ha, brilliant. I can’t wait till the boy and I have in depth conversations like this!
I recall some pointless course during my corporate working life – closed and open questions – strikes me children are pretty slick at handling both !
Ha ha sounds like our house too.
You can guarentee though if I go get in the bath they won’t shut up!
Ah! The art of conversation at its finest!
So funny. Are you sure you weren’t a fly on the wall in my house? I always resort to the ‘what did you have for lunch’ question too. And my 5-yo ‘plays dogs’ all the time with her friend as well. Why dogs? My 5-yo said, if she could choose any part in a play, she would want to be Toto in the Wizard of Oz. Toto? Not even the witch? No, that would be Mummy’s role.
That’s just showing off. Sigh.
Ha! Fortunately, on this occasion it was a meatball day – Flea’s favourite, so I got a very detailed response.
Arf.
Ah, so it gets even worse? Great!
It’s emotional, I tell ya.
Yeah, someone advised me not to ask what they did, but to ask if someone was funny, or something more specific – but this just gives Flea a longer question to give the same reply to.
You’re right – Flea is a bath tub chatterbox!
She’s a prodigy, I reckon.
Oh no, poor you – the witch! Although sneakily I’m glad it’s not just my kid.
I recognised this! My 5yo has been secretly schooling her 3yo sister in the art of non-commital conversation. She’s coming along nicely. I am SO looking forward to the day the whole family can have a conversation like this together.
My daughter went through a phase of telling me she’d ‘lost her voice’ whenever I asked about her day.
I also get the ‘can’t remember’ now…!