“Daddy?”
“Yes Madeline?”
“What’s a system?”
“Well, a system is a group of parts that work together to accomplish something. Like the nervous system in your body, which helps you think and feel things.”
“Are systems only in your body?”
“No, there are systems everywhere, like in computers for example.”
“Oh! I see. Computer systems.
They help you find Google, and funny pictures.”
Last weekend, our five year old daughter made a couple of crafts.
This is her very favourite thing to do, and something she does pretty much daily. She’s amazingly good at it too – and I’m her Dad, I know for sure.
So on Saturday she decided to make “some grownup things” and started with what just might be the two most prominent fixtures in her parents’ lives – coffee mugs and computers.
So she made a coffee mug and filled it with bits of black paper for the coffee.
And then she made a computer.
This is the screen and keyboard:
Notice that she is currently looking at the weather forecast on the screen.
And this is the back of the computer:
You know, just for anybody out there who still questions the power of branding . . .
“I don’t know” is not in the vocabulary of a five year old child.
It simply does not compute.
So instead of ever saying that they don’t know the answer to something, or shrugging their shoulders, or asking and trying to find out the answer, their tendency is more to . . . well, to lie.
Okay, it’s actually not totally surprising that she’d be named Mipmip – everybody knows that Mr. and Mrs. Suzzlefuts are assholes.
In the foreground is a craft.
It is a marker & crayon organizer that our daughter made when my wife and I told her to “go and play quietly so Mommy and Daddy can talk.” We didn’t help with the construction or the labeling and I think it’s pretty darned good.
In the background is a mess.
Dirty dishes and clothes and some tears and the frustrations of being 5 years old and not quite knowing your way around the world. Anxiety and upset tummies that make you miss your school Valentine’s Day party and a rip right through the cover of your favourite book.
In between though?
In between that craft in the foreground and that mess in the background is a look of such sheer pride, such happiness, such self-satisfaction and wonder . . . that if you look at it for a few seconds, the mess in the background just fades and fades and suddenly poof it’s gone.
Before I had kids, I knew full well that eventually my daughter would stop regarding me as the Worldwide Authority On All Things, but I had no idea it would happen so quickly.
I mean, she’s barely 5 years old and already her universe of knowledge looks something like this . . .
. . . and already too lazy to stand up while she plays Wii bowling.
PS: Whoever told you she kicked my ass in that game is a filthy, filthy liar.
Even before they’re old enough to really understand what’s going on, kids can still pick up on all sorts of things that are happening at home.
You know – like, marital stress or financial stress or when you’re phoning around to adoption agencies to see if they’ve got room for one more.
We have a daughter who is now old enough to go to school 5 days a week. Because we both work, she stays for lunch and therefore needs a lunch and two snacks packed every. single. day.
Before I had kids I really didn’t realize how difficult it is to pack 5 lunches and 10 snacks every week that are nutritious and have some remote likelihood of being ingested by a 5 year old.
You go get some groceries on the weekend, you spend some time packing a kick-ass lunch for her on Sunday night, but as the week wears on, and the groceries and patience start to wear thin, things can get a bit less well-rounded . . .
