No More Words

I love the way my seven year old daughter’s brain works. In many ways she is like an adult already, but she lacks life experience and she perceives things a bit differently than I do. The other night we were talking about the activities surrounding lent at her school. She told me they had discussed almsgiving and one of the activities would be giving to babies. She brought home an empty plastic baby bottle to fill with money and return to her teacher. She interpreted this act as giving money to babies in general, not just those whose parents struggle to provide for them. She has a teacher who just had a baby. She decided it would be a good idea to give her teacher’s new baby some cash.

She presented this idea to me excitedly. “Since we are collecting money for babies, we should give money to Mrs. K’s baby. We could say here is $50 baby, and here’s $20, and here is $100, and take some change too, and here is $18. That’s a tip for you baby. Namaste. Enjoy your day”.

I kid you not, those are the words that came out of this child’s mouth. She even put her hands together and bowed when she said it. I, of course, laughed, so she has been walking around the house saying “Namaste. Enjoy your day” as a response to any conversation she wants to end. I tell her to put her crafts away and get ready for bed and her response is “Namaste. Enjoy your day” as she continues doing what she is doing. Brush your teeth, help empty the dishwasher, fold your clothes, make your bed all elicit the same response. It’s a slightly less obnoxious form of the 90s “talk to the hand” fad.

My little mini me has the same reaction to her words being used against her as a politician. She can certainly dish it out, but she cannot, or rather, will not take it. When she makes her demand for an after school snack I smile at her, bow and say “Namaste. Enjoy your day.” Two can play this game!

I wrote this blog while listening to Modest Mouse