A Child’s Understanding
The other night Andy (5) started crying hysterically. Dan ran upstairs to find out what was wrong. It turns out he had touched a light bulb, and thought he was going to die.
He is all of a sudden afraid at times, and asks “Will this make me die?” a lot.
He had been told that if you put your finger in the light socket, you could get hurt or die- that is where the light bulb fear came in. A logical conclusion if you are 5, I guess, but the other things he comes up with- wow!
He climbed in my bed the other noght and said “Mommy, I’m scared!” Now, I could tell he just wanted to be there, and not in his own bed, but what he came up with to be scared about was almost funny.
I said “Why are you scared?”
He answered “Because there might be a tornado some time.”
I told him we don’t get tornados this time of year, and almost never around here, but he insisted that we could because it was supposed to get warmer real fast, and Danny told him if the warm air and the cold air meet up with each other, they can start a tornado.
Wow! What to do with stories (never mind if they are true) that big brothers tell?
I told him the truth, that tornados can be made that way- but we almost never get them around here.
His newest thing now, is that he is starving. I don’t mean just that he is hungry- he knows that starving means you are going to die if you don’t eat food- right now!
In his 5 year old understanding, he no longer says he is starving. Instead he says “I need food, my belly is running out of food!”
Not “I’m hungry”- but not quite “I’m starving” either.
And rather than have the effect of making me feel bad for him, it makes me laugh.
I am going to miss these little ways of a young child when he no longer comes up with this sort of reasoning.
They are simple, yet when I think about it- maybe he does know more than me.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:50 am
Hmmm….maybe he is.