I am often amazed by the words that come out of my four-year-old daughter’s mouth. While they are usually pretty funny and make me chuckle days after, they usually are statements that make me think. Here are my top five most enlightening conversations that really made me think about parenting.
About sharing
Daughter: Mommy, can I use your phone?
Me: No, not right now.
Daughter: But I want to!
Me: I think you need to be more appreciative.
Daughter: What does appreciative mean?
Me: It means being thankful.
Daughter: Are we thankful when people share with us?
Me: Yes… (uh oh, I think I know where this is going)
Daughter: But you’re not sharing with me.
About being different
We were in the grocery store buying food for the week and asked my daughter to pick out the juice she wanted to take with her lunch. We told her she needed to pick one from the purple boxes, the generic brand at the store.
Daughter: I want the juice in the blue box.
Me: No, you need to pick one of the purple boxes.
Daughter: But everyone else at school has the blue box.
Me: That may be so, but you need to pick a purple box. It lets you have money to do other things you want to do.
Daughter: I don’t want money to do other things. I don’t want to be different!
About knowing right from wrong
I came home from work one day and my daughter met me at the door.
Daughter: Mommy, I did something bad today
Me: You did? What happened?
Daughter: I don’t want to tell you. I won’t do it again.
About what parents let you do
After dinner one night, my daughter came to me while my husband was in a different room. This led to one of those “teachable” moments about what one parent says – both parents will do.
Daughter: I finished all my food, can I have a treat?
Me: What do you want?
Daughter: Something from the bowl (pointing to the mints). I can eat hard candy now.
Me: I’ll let you have one but I have to watch you eat it.
Daughter: Okay, but I will have to eat it far away from Daddy because he says I can’t have it.
About being your child’s hero
This is my favorite. It teaches us that even the simplest things we do for our children are appreciated.
Daughter: Mommy, a long, long time ago there was a bug inside our house and Daddy killed it. That makes Daddy my hero.
