BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

I have to wonder why when speaking to children we adults endeavor to complicate explanations with inferences and allusions, instead of just coming right out and saying what we mean. You know, stuff like the whole “Well… There are birds and there are bees, and then there are flowers…“

I suppose it may have to do with helping them develop deductive reasoning skills. The whole putting two and two together sort of thing. Problem is, it seems kids are way ahead of us on some of this, and they are completely unabashed in their explanations.

Yeah, this is another instance of from the mouths of… Just like the other day when my kid yelled out, “Mommy gave you a big pussy?!” (If you are new here, it’s not as bad as it sounds – see blog post What did you say?)

Similarly, this incident occurred during our morning walk while the munchkin’ was still on spring vacation. We were following the same route we had a day or so before, and on that recent walk we had seen a cat sitting on a porch. I know, no big deal. It’s not like we don’t have cats ourselves, however, this seemed to fascinate the kid since she thought the cat was “really cute.”

Anyway, the topic of conversation that morning was “whether or not that cat would be sitting on the porch again.” As it turned out, it was. Well, actually, it was sitting in front of the porch instead of on it, but the point is it was there again. Or still there for all I know, but I digress…

Once we saw the cat and the kid oohed and ahhed, we continued on our way. We’d only traveled a quarter of a block when the short person asked, “Daddy. Is that cat a boy or a girl?”

“Well, I don’t know,” I replied. “It’s kind of hard to tell at a distance when it isn’t a Calico.”

Now granted, I didn’t give her any manner of convoluted explanation, and the reality is I wouldn’t be able to tell the gender of the feline unless I went over and grabbed it up by the tail – or, if it happened to elect to put its yarbles – or lack thereof – on display as cats will sometimes do. But, my kid was undaunted. She figured that if I couldn’t figure it out, then she would venture her own theory.

“Oh… Yeah…” she mused. After a very brief pause she announced, “Maybe we could tell like you do with dogs.”

Curious, I asked, “How’s that?”

“You wait for them to pee. If it’s a boy he will lift his leg. If it’s a girl, she just looks like she’s pooping.”

Direct. To the point. And, near as I can figure, pretty damn accurate, at least where dogs are concerned.

I think I’ll take a lesson from the offspring in this case. Next time someone asks me a question – especially one I don’t really want to answer – I’ll just say, “You have to wait for them to pee…“

More to come…

Murv