On Friday night Lacey came to me with a really serious question. Probably one of the most serious questions she’s ever asked. And I found myself in a bit of a pickle: To lie or to tell the truth.
We had just put Luella to sleep, Hubby was on night shift and we were settled in to watch a movie, and she asked, “Are mermaids real mum?”
I told her the truth. In case you can’t read my sarcasm, it wasn’t a serious question at all, but there’s nothing like killing a 6 year old’s dreams, “No, mermaids aren’t real. They’re just pretend.”
I could see her mind ticking over and re-shuffling all those mermaid beliefs she had, that she thought to be true. Because let’s face it, when you’re six, mermaids are EVERYTHING. Everything.
Thank goodness she didn’t ask about Santa or the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, cos I’m so not ready for that talk yet. And not at all quite mentally prepared for the Birds & The Bees chat. May that come later in life. Much later.
On Saturday night I babysat my cousin’s kids, who are a few years older than Lacey. I love watching Lacey interact with other people. Cos I know her how she is at home, when it’s just us… but to see her when she’s around other people is always quite the social experiment.
Again we put Luella to bed, ate dinner {spaghetti bolognese for the win!} and then settled down to watch a movie. Lacey started talking about the movie she’d watched the night before, a Barbie flick about fairies and mermaids, and tried to convince them {a 9 year old girl and 11 year old boy} that they would totally love the same movie that she loved the night before.
Oh sweet innocent child.
And then I could see her mentally gear up to blow their minds. “And you know!?,” she gasped, “Mermaids are totally fake!”
She waited for their reaction. She waited. She waited. And it never came. No minds were blown.
But, being the feisty, un-defeatable child she is, she convinced them to watch that Barbie movie, and they did.
That’s my girl.
What cute stuff has your kid/s done lately? Go on, brag.
photo credit: Thomas Hawk
Aww that’s a little bit cute! I found out about Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny all on the same day. It was not a great day haha. Some kid had scoffed at me that Santa was totally not real and my mum told the truth when I asked – it was time. Five minutes later, I had a horrible revelation and my mum had to confirm those too!
Oh I love this, but I am lying to my 5yr old, I have told her that Mermaids are real, I really don’t want to spoil it for her just yet! xxx
Sadie has asked about fairies and mermaids a few times and I took the easy way out and told her if you believe they are real, they will always be real in your heart. I kind of figure when the is Santa real question comes, I will, hopefully, be able to use the same answer and get away with it.
As for the birds and the bees talk, arrgggghhhhhhhhhhhh
My 7 yo daughter asked me in June “Hey Mom, have you ever heard of the word SPERM?” I almost couldn’t contain myself. I was not ready for that one just yet. I told her to sit down and we would have a chat. I gave her a very basic no-frills talk about how sperm are made and sex. Then she started giggling and I knew it was ok. (She already knew the technical names of boy parts and girl parts so it was easy to explain how they were used).
Oh but Telle, they are real! I watched a doco.. I know I sound cray cray, and they aren’t what we think they look like but I believe x
So precious! I can’t wait until my son is old enough to talk, he is already such a character at 2 1/2 months and will say the cutest things 🙂
My 7 year old just asked me if the tooth fairy was real cos one of the kids at school told her “your mum just takes the tooth & leaves the money”, I had to say, “I don’t know why they would say that!”, I couldn’t tell her, she hasn’t even lost a tooth yet!!
I have no children, but am Auntie to many … one of the neighbor kids told one of my little pals that Santa wasn’t real and he scoffed back – just because you are naughty and he doesn’t bring you stuff doesn’t mean that he’s not real at MY house! Love that kid and response! As for mermaids and fairies … my answer has been – I’ve never seen one, but I’ve never seen alot of things …
My children have older cousins in their early to mid teens so have been told that Santa, the Easter bunny and fairies etc. aren’t real, but it doesn’t seem to have sunk in (relief) my 2 are only 3 and 7 so I hope to eek out a few more years of Santa and Easter bunny deliveries. I agree I am dreading the birds and bees talk and hope it is a while a way but with a little girl that is 7, it is rushing closer and closer all the time.
I had a proud Mummy moment last week. Five or six sheep had come through the fence from the farm next door and were eating grass out the front of our house. I overheard my daughter Avah, who is seven, telling her cousin Noah, who is only one, all about them. “Noah, see those sheep? Well, they are a family. It is a mummy, daddy and a baby. Or, it could be two women who love each other and their beautiful baby.” So beautiful.
Does this fact that I had a huge conversation with my class of 5 year olds today about how much I loved the idea of mermaids make me a bad teacher…..? We confirmed there probably were mermaids, just not in Scottish waters…!!
Sweet!
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That is so cute! My Mr5 has been asking all sorts of curly questions lately, and I admit I’ve still been telling white lies on some of them – Santa being one.
I love the fact the the second cousins still watched her barbie movie, even if their minds weren’t quite blown by her revelation 😉
Beautiful! I just love the stuff kids say. My little guy about the impending birth of his Yoga teacher’s new bub last week “Is it going to come out of the vagima? Because if it is, it’s going to hurt. The vagima is so tiny and the baby is so fat” … and today “Mum likes to close the door to poo, just like me” to the guy at the fruit and veg stall at the markets. Thanks little guy. Thanks.
I tell my 5 yr old that fairies and mermaids are real!! A friends child came home from sch and said someone had told him the tooth fairy wasn’t real. His dad had consumed a pint or 2 over lunch so his reply was ” yep well Santa and the Eater bunny aren’t real either” !!
We talk about getting that magical feeling in our house. I have a 11yo and a 6yo. When they ask is santa/easter bunny/tooth fairy/faeries/mermaids/transformers/Ninja Turtles/bugs bunny/barbie/sophia the first real, I ask if they believe in that magical feeling they get when they think of them. If they answer is yes then they are real, because the moment you stop believing in the magic they go away.
My 11yo still believes in the magic, but has his suspicions on the whole deal.
I know exactly which Barbie movie you mean. My girls love it too 🙂