I love the litanies families develop, but I’m ever so slightly worried about this one:
“Nora, do you know what a ‘rubbish heap’ is?” I’ll ask, while reading a Beatrix Potter story.
“Yes,” she’ll say.
“What is it?”
“What?” she’ll reply.
Or I’ll ask, “Do you know what your Grandma Nubbin’s first name?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“What?”
Or, “Nora, do you know what tomorrow is?”
“Yes”
“What is it?”
“What?”
Perhaps it’s in the way I ask the question. Maybe she thinks I’m asking her if she wants to know. Or maybe, just maybe, my smart little girl already thinks she’s supposed to know everything and doesn’t want to admit when she doesn’t. Because I fear that I am responsible for passing along this particular gene, I’m looking for ways to mitigate the damage.
Anybody have an idea of how to let a preschooler know that she doesn’t have to know very much at all?