Friday Discussions

For some reason, Fridays have become a little bit more educational for me. For the last month, it never fails ~ my afternoon class is getting lined up and ready to leave for the day and somehow we end up having a pretty deep conversation for 4 and 5 year olds.

The first week, we are nearly ready to go, it is 3:00 and one of the girls looks at me and says, "Why don't you like *gender* babies?" I was pretty confused and had to ask where she got that idea. She said, "Well....if you liked *gender* babies, why wouldn't you decide to have one of those?" This leads to a discussion about how I didn't have a preference of what sort of baby Josh and I had, that we just wanted a baby, and that you don't get to decide what sort of baby you have. After I thought that we'd sorted things out after explaining that God is the one that decides whether it's a girl or a boy baby, I get asked why we didn't just have two babies at the same time because then we'd have one of each. By now it is after 3:00 and I'm pretty sure the parents are wondering why we haven't dismissed for the day, but I explained as best as I could that, just like the gender of the baby, you don't get to pick how many you have at a time (usually). We get that all sorted out and can dismiss for the weekend.

I was crazy to believe that that'd be the only discussion like that that we'd be having in that class. The following Friday (why Fridays, anyways!?!?) we were getting on our gear to go outside and dismiss. One of the boys zips his coat up as far as it goes and then sort of sniffs at it and mentions that it smells like cigarettes. All of the kids, except one, make a face, knowing exactly what he's talking about. The one that didn't make a face asks what a cigarette is. The other kids start to explain to him what it is. Once he's sort of got a grasp on what it is, one of the girls mentions that her mom and dad both smoke and that when her mom has tried to quit but can't do it and how she knows that it's bad for you. We talk about why it's hard to quit, and what it does to your lungs and heart. The boy that didn't know what cigarettes were asks some questions, digests what he's just learned and then says, "Why would a person do something like that if they know that it's bad and can make them sick?" My thoughts exactly.

Last Friday, (thankfully before dismissal) our discussion wasn't quite as deep....or as detailed. One of the kids asked me if I decided that I didn't like the baby, if I could just "put it back where it came from." I laughed. I didn't try to, but I did. And tried to sort of explain, without really explaining that that's not possible. The same kid, after I've said that that's not how things work says he'd go back to where he came from but he's not quite sure where that is. All I can do is tell him to ask his parents. And try to keep a straight face.