Making Friends in Foreign Places

Kids are kids everywhere, and that means they are generally open to making friends across race and cultural barriers that adults might be more conscious about.

I say this because here in Oz, Beth has been able to make friends with the local kids at parks and playgrounds. The one exception was when she was rebuffed by a little boy at a cafe, with a loud "You're not my friend!" which caused her to burst into tears.

We tried to explain that some people are not so friendly, but others are. Thankfully, her subsequent encounters were all successful, so she's gotten over it now and doesn't talk about the incident anymore.

This evening, she made friends with a little girl at the Bundoora Park playground and they were holding hands running around exploring the rides. When they needed help "fighting" the 2 older boys who had challenged them to some sort of competitive game, she came running to Daddy and asked him to "give her power" with a high 5. When her new friend saw that, she came to me and asked to "recharge" too! It was such a lovely thing to experience when adults elsewhere are killing each other for all sorts of irrational reasons.

Do 4 y.o.'s understand death?

Recently, we all got caught up in the tragedy of Steve Irwin's stingray accident and the fate of his now fatherless children.

One day, I was discussing this topic of death with Beth. It started because she asked how old I would be if she were 50. I said "82, and I may not be around then."

She got really upset. "I don't want you and Daddy to die. Then who will look after mei mei and me?" she asked, eyes welling up.

This afternoon, she and Daddy were discussing milk teeth when suddenly she turned to him and said,"Daddy, I don't want you to die. Then mei mei and I have no keys to go home."

Daddy was a bit stunned. "Er, Mummy will have the keys."

"But if Mummy isn't around?"

"Then you will have the keys," replied Daddy. And they had a good hug.

Thankfully, she forgot the subject quite quickly and she was soon asking to be tickled and lying happily in Daddy's lap while he tried to read the papers.

I shudder to think of the day when one of us has to leave. Can we ever bear to leave the children, no matter how old they are?

How Many Teeth Did Jesus Have?

Daddy and Beth were talking about milk teeth and adult teeth just now.

Daddy told Beth that her milk teeth would fall out.

Beth wanted to count Daddy's teeth.

Suddenly, Beth asked: "Jesus have how many teeth?"

"32, I suppose. Unless He had some pulled out," was Daddy's reply.

This led to a fit of giggles all round.