“To think like a child again. That which I can’t comprehend, I don’t try to comprehend.”
I saw this quote somewhere recently. Darned if I remember where, but it struck me enough to tuck it away for a blog post.
Isn’t the mind of a child amazing?
Truly, if they can’t comprehend something, they don’t even try. They just write it right out of their little existence as if it were never there and go on living life. The way THEY perceive it, not the way life may truly be.
My 10 year old is reading a book right now called The Dollhouse Murders. I’ve never heard of it, have you? She got it at school.
Anyway, the title of the book brought questions from my 5 year old.
“What’s murder?”
“Why would someone murder?”
“What happens to a person who is murdered?”
“What happens to the person who murders?”
All of which I tried to answer as delicately as I could, while my 10 year old impressed her sister with her 10 year old knowledge about things like murders, fiction, RL Stine books, and the like.
In short, she handled it a little less delicately than I would have.
I finally cut the conversation short, saying we’d talked enough about murder for the day.
Not surprisingly, Little Iggy wanted to talk more right at bedtime, faced with the reality she had to go to sleep in her room. Alone.
“Mom, what if a murder (correct usage – she called a murderer a murder) gets in my room?”
“They can’t. The doors are locked.”
“What if he comes in my window?”
“The windows are locked too.”
“What if he can invisible himself and come in through the window that way?”
“He can’t.”
“What if he can?”
“Remember we have an alarm that would go off.”
“What would you do if the alarm went off?”
“I’d call the police and then I’d come in and splat him.”
“What would Daddy do?”
“There’s no telling what Daddy would do. Because he would never, ever, ever let someone get anywhere near his girls.”
The end.
Because that line? Caused the worry lines to smooth out and the relief to set in. And just like that she was done.
That which we can’t comprehend we don’t try to comprehend.
As an adult who used to practice criminal defense for a living, I know the truth.
That if a bad person gets into your house, the likelihood of something bad happening before you or the police can stop it is pretty high.
And even as I write that last line, I don’t want to think about it. I can’t comprehend being a “story” like you see on 48 hours.
So maybe I’m not so different than a child after all. Because “that which I can’t comprehend I don’t want to even think about comprehending either.”
I think I still believe my daddy would never ever let anything happen to me.
That is actually one of the worst parts of being an adult, knowing the thruth about stuff you’d rather be unaware off.
Oh this post gave me chills. It is true something’s are too awful to comprehend so we don’t. I love the way my kids want me to ‘kiss it better’ like they really believe my kisses have super powers. It makes me sad to think that one day they will realize they don’t. Ignorance really can be bliss.
You are right. Ignorance really can be bliss, can’t it?
The conversations we have with our kids are so interesting, and sometimes (many times) we don’t have the answers but just try and do the best we can.
I have heard of that book, any good?
It’s a pretty good book!
Why am I only just now getting the e-mail about this post?? Forgive me for only just now commenting when you put it up the 9th. I got an e-mail with several posts in it. Odd.
ANYWAY. If G likes Dollhouse Murders, I HIGHLY advise she try Wait Till Helen Comes, by Mary Downing Hahn. I love both books, and I have since I was about G’s age.
You probably got all of the posts together all at once because there was a little blip on feedburner’s end with the switch over! I think it’s fixed now. Thanks for the rec on the book!