Thursday, November 29, 2007

Conversations with kids

I've had a few 'interesting' conversations with children this week.  Some of them were serious, some funny, some that just made ya go "huh?".  I thought I'd share a few of those with you.

Conversation #1:
Tonight, Savannah told me "I wish Jesus would come back tonight!"
I said "Yeah, me to....it sure would be good wouldn't it?  Why do you want Him to come back?"
Savannah said "Oh, so you can go spend forever with God, get to see what Heaven's like....and you'd get to skip all the negative stuff in this world......"
 
She paused & I was thinking how incredibly wise she is....and then she finished her thought.
 
"......like pollution & homework."
 
Conversation #2:
At school this week, one of the kids in my class came in with a big goose egg on his forehead.  It had a little bruise on it.  I hadn't noticed it til he pointed it out & said "Ms. Liz, I have a great big boobie on my head".
 
(Boy is it hard to keep a straight face when a precious nearly-3-year-old little boy says something like that!)
 
Conversation #3:
On the way home from church Wednesday night, Sarah was whining about how she was hungry because she didn't have a snack at church.  Honestly, my kids are fed plenty, I swear.  The thing is, she is used to her Wed. night teacher bringing a snack for the class and since she didn't have one that night, Sarah was just whiney.  On the nights she's at home, we don't give her a snack at 7pm, so it's not like she's in the habit of having a snack every night at that time.  She wasn't hungry...she was just whiney.  So we're in the van driving home & she was whining about not having a snack & we began this very normal conversation that turned to something really cool!
 
Me:  Sarah, quit whining.  You don't need a snack.
 
Sarah:  Yes, I do....I'm staaaaaaaaarrrrvvvviiinnnng!
 
Me:  Oh please.  You ate breakfast this morning, had a snack w/ your class at school, then ate the lunch I packed you, then had a snack when you got home from school, then ate supper.  You are perfectly fine kiddo!
 
Sarah:  But (teacher's name here) always has a snack for us at Daisies...I'm soooo hungry.
 
Me:  (tired of listening to her whine about it)  Sarah, that's enough.  Quit.  There are lots of children around the world who don't have enough food for 3 meals a day, much less several snacks.  You've had plenty to eat today, so quit.  No more whining!
 
Samuel:  That's right Sarah.  Some countries don't have the same freedoms we do because they didn't have enough people die when they were fighting in the war.
 
(pause to giggle, then you can keep reading....)
 
Me:  Um, yes, Samuel.  That's right.  Some countries don't have the freedoms we have, but what does that have to do with Sarah wanting a snack?
 
Samuel:  Well, some countries don't get to eat anything they want--their country tells them what they can eat because they lost the war.
 
(giggle some more, then keep going...)
 
Me:  Well, sort of....  There are a lot of countries where women aren't allowed to vote or to even show their face in public, they have to wear clothes that cover up their faces, except for their eyes.  There are other countries where the government tells you where you can live, work & go to church.  We're really blessed that we can make all those choices on our own.
 
Savannah:  Why don't they let the women wear regular clothes?
 
Me:  Well, they think that the women are just property that the men own, so they don't let them go to school or vote in elections & things because they don't believe that women need to do that.
 
Savannah:  I would not like that if I lived there!  If I did, I'd tell them that's weird.
 
Me:  No, baby...you wouldn't say anything because you'd get in trouble or hurt if you did...and besides, those women have never lived any other way so they don't realize it's weird.  We're pretty lucky huh?
 
Savannah:  Yeah, I don't want to live there.
 
::::I was thinking about how I could make this a spiritual lesson as I drove & listened to their great childlike wisdom for a while & so I ended up reminding them that our greatest freedom is the freedom we have in Christ.  Freedom from sin is definately the most fantastic freedom we can enjoy every day.::::
 
Samuel:  You know mom, in some countries they dig tunnels & have church in there.
 
Me:  (I had to think on that for a while before I realized what he was talking about.)  Sweetie, they're called "underground churches" but they're not really IN the ground.  That's just what they call them because it means they're secret or hidden.  People don't actually meet in the ground.
 
Savannah:  Yeah, it's like the Underground Railroad where they freed the slaves.
 
Samuel:  Huh?
 
(Savannah explained that to the best of her ability & the other kids listened intently.......)
 
I just found this all so profound & humorous....I mean, we went from a whiney kid's begging for a snack to discussing the Underground Railroad.  :)  Gotta love kid conversations!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...


 Well, did you expect less of my grandchildren?  They are the brightest kids around.  Look where they came from!   Love, Grandma

Anonymous said...

great conversations!
Becky