How Quickly They Learn
"How was camp today?" I asked.
"It was fine," Alexis replied. AS ALWAYS.
"Did you get to go into the big gym at all?" I continued. It only took me approximately forever plus three days to figure out I have to ask specific questions if I actually want to have a conversation with the kid about what she does all day long.
"Yeah, but only once," Alexis replied. "It was super boring."
"Why was it boring?" I asked. I was assuming they played some sort of team sports, which would be boring for her. Her camp is kindergarten through sixth grade, so I would guess that team sports end up with the littlest kids sort of pushed off to the side after a few minutes.
"The Americans were boring," she said.
I had to think for a minute, but I figured out what craziness she was spewing. A couple of times per week, the camp brings in someone to do a presentation or lead an activity or whatever. There had been a Native American themed event that morning.
"Do you mean the Native Americans?" I asked.
"Yeah, the Native Americans." she said. "They were really boring." She yawned as she answered, as if to pound a few more nails in the BORING BORING BORING. Did I mention that she said it was boring? She said it was boring.
"Why was it boring?" I was surprised by her assessment. As a North Dakotan, I attended approximately a crap-ton of Native American presentations as a kid, and never particularly found them to be painful. Annoying, sure. But not THAT bad.
"All they did was dance around and make noises," Alexis reported. "And they wore hats that were really dumb."
Things were starting to get interesting. Here was the short person being highly critical of a group of people, totally not realizing that SHE IS ONE. Mr. Husband is part Native American and while you won't catch him wearing a headdress or anything, I thought it was funny that she was all, "THEY ARE SO BORING."
I filled the kid in on her family history. She fell silent.
"I guess the rain dance was kind of cool," she finally muttered minutes later.
As we sat gathered around the kitchen table, I urged Alexis to tell her dad about the Native American presentation she had seen that morning. I was REALLY looking forward to her droning on and on about how boring it was.
"Dad! We saw Native Americans at camp and it was SOOOO cool!" she said.
There's probably some deep moral I could pull from the story, but I'm too busy being annoyed by the fact that the kid already knows to change her words to make sure she keeps her dad happy. That's going to be a pain in my ass for a loooooong time.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Reader Comments (13)
Good God she's cute! And yes, you can expect her to take advantage of that for...oh the rest of her life!
Quick tip to get your kid talking about her day: Chatting with friends is about exchanging emotions. Talking with parents is about exchanging information. THAT IS BORING TO KIDS. Stop asking for info, start exchanging emotions. Basically, start talking about your day in the way you'd want her to talk about hers.
HAHA
Smart kid!! Takes after her Mom! :-)
Ha, I am sure I will be dealing with that in only a few short years. Currently, its more that the oldest is just annoyed with all parental figures (um HI tween years, you suck!) and does not want to please anyone and the babies have no clue yet!
I hate how they manipulate... :-)
Great photo!
This could be dangerous by the time she reaches her teens. Good luck ;)
You are screwd. Period.
you can tell i don't have kids because i would have thought that your conversation with her changed her outlook on the day!
What a smart cookie!
Does your head hurt from banging it on the table?
I don't think she changed her opinion because of her dad, so much as the fact that she is part Native American. She can't be boring. She can only be "cool"!
Dylan always just said "fine" when I asked about school, and I would try to pry info out of him with specific questions. I'm going to try Anthony's idea. We do the best and worst part of our days at dinner, and that usually gives me some insights also.
I know you don't need me to tell you this but she's totally lost her baby-ness and is such a lovely little lady!
Oh and its a good idea to let her be whatever for dad but real for you ;)
ha little smartie.
I also have learned that I need to ask specific questions to Maggie, otherwise I get 'good' as an answer to 'how was school today?' even if there was some horrible drama with playing princess or something. I have to ask what she ate for lunch, who she played with, WHAT they played, did they go swimming, etc... JUST. LIKE. HER. DAD.