Rockstar: Mum! <seriously, meant as him testing me> Do you still remember the difference between tortoises and turtles?
Kings: Turtles can fight, tortoises cannot fight.
Me: Oh NO.
Kings: That’s why we have Ninja Turtles!
Rockstar: <Gets very excited> Can we get some?
Me: (Mildly annoyed, to Kings) Seriously. You couldn’t see that coming? Let’s see you get out of it…
Kings: Rockstar, Daddy’s very tired.
Rockstar: Mum?
Me: <glaring at Kings now pretending to yawn and nod off> Daddy was referring to a story about 4 ordinary turtles who picked up super powers. They aren’t real, like the Cars movies or Mickey Mouse – real cars don’t talk, real turtles don’t fight.
Later, when we’re alone…
Rockstar: Mum. Sometimes Daddy just sits in front of the tv and doesn’t say anything when I talk to him.
Me: You know your father cannot do two things at one time, he doesn’t respond when he’s driving either. He probably didn’t even hear you, especially if he’s just come home from work. Besides, Daddy didn’t go to Kindergarten, remember? It’s not easy for him to hold your conversations without getting really tired, because he hasn’t had much practice using that part of his brain…
(This is true, because Kings can skim a complicated derivatives termsheet and replicate the product terms/ draw the exotic payoff on a blank piece of paper without thinking twice, but ask him to hold an extended conversation with a 4 year old……………….!)
Rockstar: <knowledgeably> Oh, I know… Daddy doesn’t talk…
Me: Well, yeah. You’re learning about animals now, right? So you know different creatures have different senses or abilities that are highly developed. Some Daddies find it hard to talk a lot – but then they’re pretty good for piggy-back rides or basketball games. But you knew that already, it’s why you already let Daddy get away with not answering your questions?
Rockstar: <resignedly – can you imagine a 4yr old looking seriously resigned, heaving his shoulders and sighing theatrically?!> Ye-eah… Tsk!
Daddies Are Good For Dorky Faces Too..... (Seriously, did anyone notice Kings' eyes are almost the same size as Rockstar's?)
Kings didn’t study biology or ecology so has eclectic views on turtles & tortoises. You can educate Rockstar about wildlife and animals from many of the great nature documentaries produced by BBC. I highly recommend “Planet earth (2006)”:
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Six-Disc-Special-Edition-Blu-ray/dp/B005C9YZIW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1330692365&sr=8-3
The cinematography is breath-taking. Try to get the blu-ray version for best viewing. The Casanova of LSE doesn’t know how to talk to girls and to kids? Not believable.
Thanks for the link… Even just for argument’s sake, WHY would a supposed ladies’ man be any good taking to kids?!
Womanising is a highly transferable skill.
Your spouse is so blessed to have such a good and understanding wife who explains him so patiently to his even more understanding son. Others would have demanded that he learn to communicate, entertain and “play-edu” with his son more.
You’re very kind… It’s not that I totally don’t say anything tho, I was a bit annoyed at the Ninja Turtles because next thing is “can we watch the movie”… Though I have more faith in my child’s trainability for wholesome stuff than my husband’s 😀
On another note though, people here do take the way they raise their kids very seriously – fairly often we pass young(ish) couples with toddlers struggling to speak to their child in English, say… It always impresses me because there they much be exhausted with a young child over the weekend after usually crazy Hk hours, and there they make do much effort to communicate to the child in a language they really aren’t very comfortable in…