Career Day at Preschool
Children live in the most wondrous world. A world where anything can happen, and things can be whatever you want them to be. Their world is not bothered with silly constraints like logic or reality. Don’t like it? Change it!
The other day, my 4-year old taught me how to handle things you don’t understand. In his preschool class, they were discussing families, and fathers in particular. Each child was asked what his father’s occupation was. Some of the answers were extremely accurate, like the child who said “My dad’s a dentist”. Others were cute, like the OB/Gyn’s son who said “My dad does surgery”. When I asked her what my son had said, she told me his answer was “My dad drives a truck”. I stood there speechless, until the teacher asked me if I was alright. Now there’s nothing wrong with being a truck driver, except that my husband is a Computer Consultant! That’s got to be as far away from a truck driver as possible. So on the way home, I confronted my son about it. He had no explanation for selecting truck driver, other than I gathered that he had no idea what his father does. So I launched into an explanation of daddy’s job, which to be honest, sometimes confuses me! The glazed look appeared. You know the one. The one that says “I have no idea what you’re talking about”. So I simply tried to teach him to say “My daddy does data backup and recovery”. Uh-uh. That didn’t work. So I said – as sweetly as I could – “Honey, just tell everyone that your dad works with computers, OK?” The enthusiastic nod told me that I had reached him. So as I put him to bed, I was confident that he would be more accurate the following day.
The next day, we arrived at the preschool a little early, and so I hung around as I sometimes do. While talking to the other kids, I asked them what their dad’s did. Then I asked my son, “And what does your daddy do, sweetie?” With a perfectly straight face, this cherub answered “My daddy’s a computer guy . . . (pause) . . . and an alligator catcher”!
The other day, my 4-year old taught me how to handle things you don’t understand. In his preschool class, they were discussing families, and fathers in particular. Each child was asked what his father’s occupation was. Some of the answers were extremely accurate, like the child who said “My dad’s a dentist”. Others were cute, like the OB/Gyn’s son who said “My dad does surgery”. When I asked her what my son had said, she told me his answer was “My dad drives a truck”. I stood there speechless, until the teacher asked me if I was alright. Now there’s nothing wrong with being a truck driver, except that my husband is a Computer Consultant! That’s got to be as far away from a truck driver as possible. So on the way home, I confronted my son about it. He had no explanation for selecting truck driver, other than I gathered that he had no idea what his father does. So I launched into an explanation of daddy’s job, which to be honest, sometimes confuses me! The glazed look appeared. You know the one. The one that says “I have no idea what you’re talking about”. So I simply tried to teach him to say “My daddy does data backup and recovery”. Uh-uh. That didn’t work. So I said – as sweetly as I could – “Honey, just tell everyone that your dad works with computers, OK?” The enthusiastic nod told me that I had reached him. So as I put him to bed, I was confident that he would be more accurate the following day.
The next day, we arrived at the preschool a little early, and so I hung around as I sometimes do. While talking to the other kids, I asked them what their dad’s did. Then I asked my son, “And what does your daddy do, sweetie?” With a perfectly straight face, this cherub answered “My daddy’s a computer guy . . . (pause) . . . and an alligator catcher”!