“Mum why do you and daddy share a bed and you don’t want me and aunty to do the same?”
Before I could cook up an answer, she threw another salvo: “In our new house, I want to share a bed with daddy and you can sleep with auntie in her room.”
“Aunty snores loudly in our room. You will sleep with her in the new room,” she blurted out.
I wanted to zip her mouth lest she unleashed more missiles.
Kids, kids, kids. So innocent, yet so naughty.
I never answered any of her questions, because I had no clue how to go about it.
In this journey of parenting, I have come to realise that there comes a time that you are caught off guard. I never imagined that my daughter would question why everybody else in the house is not allowed to share a bed except daddy and mummy.
I mean who would question such unwritten rules other than a child?
The other day, a friend told me her daughter was interrogating her about why she shops for everybody except auntie.
According to the minor, the househelp should enjoy all the privileges that the rest of the family enjoys, because “she lives with us and she is part of us.”
Children are fascinating beings. They notice some mundane things that we adults assume and take for granted.
For instance, if you do not tell your child, she will assume that you and her daddy are blood relations. She will also think that the househelp is part of the family.
As a parent, it is really important to constantly communicate with your child so that you help them to understand some complex issues that may be hard to decipher.
What I am also learning is that when a child asks such embarrassing questions that challenge societal norms, the solution for you as a parent is not to brush them off.
If you do so, the issue will resurface again when you least expect it. Imagine her asking such questions in the presence of visitors?
To avoid such eventualities, the solution is to sit your children down and find ‘child friendly’ language to explain to them why for instance, mummy and daddy must share a bed.
I am yet to find a diplomatic way to explain to baby girl why that happens in our house. Tips are welcome.
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