Stomach Full of Caterpillars
I find it odd, but I'm the one who will eat cream of mushroom soup straight out of the can, so who am I to judge? Still, it's a little unusual, I think, that Alexis loves to read history books. She will happily read for hours about former presidents and historical figures and on and on and on.
I consider most of it a snoozefest, but whatever. If she's happy, so be it. She can keep on reading her books about history.
Alexis has read historical book after historical book, including several books about the civil rights movement. She found Rosa Parks to be incredibly interesting. She told me all about what she knew of Martin Luther King, Jr. She even reported reading about separate water fountains and the like.
She said it made her "heart hurt." Her words. Not mine.
But, it was the men in the white gowns and masks that got her. One night she was reading a new book about the civil rights movement and she came to a page about the terrible people who wore those white gowns and she FREAKED OUT.
"Why are they dressed so scary?" she asked. That question was followed by dozens of others. None of the answers came easily, but I tried to navigate them using only facts. I want her to make up her own mind about what is acceptable and what is horrible.
Horrible won out. Hands down. I know that because Alexis started to have nightmares about the Ku Klux Klan.
Nightmares led to sleepless nights led to conversations about all sorts of fun stuff at all hours of the night. It was enough to make me consider banning books about history. I didn't, but I considered it.
Then she found a book about World War II. When Alexis started asking questions about Hitler, I wished I had banned those books. She went on and on, trying her hardest to find an answer to her very simple question.
"Why?"
She wanted to know why someone would do so many horrible things to people and she wanted to know why other people let it happen and WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY.
She's still going on about it. Given that there is no good answer to that question, all we can do is discuss how it makes her feel and look for ways to make sure it never happens again.
"Momma, it makes me feel like I ate a bunch of caterpillars for breakfast. It's icky."
And with that statement, the 7-year old managed to sum up her feelings on inequality better than I ever could.
Caterpillars, indeed.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Reader Comments (6)
Sigh. You're doing this parenting thing right. "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." (Winston Churchill) (or George Santayana - "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it") (I hate the internet). All we can do is learn from past mistakes - our own and others'. My kids still mostly don't understand how skin color is even an issue (They've grown up with a black president, so that makes sense). To them, we're all "shades of brown" (their words). History is terrifying, frankly. That's why it makes some of the best dramatic films, I guess. There are always heroes, though. Alexis will be someone's hero - maybe only her OWN daughter's (or son's) - but someone's. She's one smart cookie.
What an incredible person Alexis is. She is going to do something amazing with her life. I hope those caterpillars never completely go away.
This post tells me that you are doing so many things right. Love her thought process, and love that you encourage it instead of taking the easy way out. Good for both of you.
That's a great kid you have there!!
She's an awesome little girl. Kudos to you mama! I take the same sort of steps with our daughter: we let her try things on her own, etc. That's how they learn. That's how they grow.
smart child. caterpillars indeed.