kibbles and bits
Nov. 17th, 2004 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccoj(warning: stream-of-consciousness pointless and only nebulously connected ramblings ahead)
"He's welcome to come visit any time," said Marco's dad as I picked Daniel up from Marco's house yesterday. This is so much nicer to hear than "Is he always like this?" Not that we've heard that in a while, but still ;)
Part of why I love kids is that they're so free of the bullsh*t we adults pick up and carry around in ever-thickening layers as the years go by. This means that occasionally they're shockingly callous or dumb, but it also frees them from a lot of needless stupidity and automatic assumptions. E.g. Marco, who had insisted to his dad that the kid in his class picture with long hair and the name 'Danielle' (French pronunciation of Daniel) was a boy. And his dad had not believed him until yesterday. And it had taken a bit of effort on his dad's part to accept that Daniel was just like any other kid, long hair aside - an effort that Marco had never had to make.
There's also Matthew, whose birthday party Daniel attended on Sunday, and who used to refer to Daniel as 'the girl-dude' when speaking of him to his mom. Not in a derogatory way at all, she said, just as a quick handy description. Matthew simply hadn't learned yet that insinuating any kind of femininity in the character of a man or boy was a deep, deep insult.
Driving with Justin the other day, for some reason we started talking about beliefs. And I said that I didn't believe in something or other (Heaven, I think), but many people did. "And that's fine. Canada's a free country, you're allowed to believe what you want."
"Why?"
I explained how Canada and the US had been founded and settled in large part by people who were persecuted back home for their beliefs. What was persecution? "Well, for example, if there was somebody who didn't believe in Jesus, because they were Jewish, they couldn't own land, they couldn't do certain jobs, they couldn't vote-"
"But that's TERRIBLE!!" said Justin, utterly shocked. "Jesus would HATE that!!"
Um, yeah. Yeah, he would. Why is that immediately obvious to a four year-old child, but invisible to most adults?
I'm musing about kids today because yesterday I didn't have my regular childfree Tuesday, wherein I clean and tidy our downstairs and then read till my eyes bug out. Yesterday Justin had his DPTP shot in the morning and I decided to just keep him home the rest of the day. We cooked, walked to Guy's and back, and generally just hung out. Very nice :)
Today is a different day. Had Env class in the morning and now I'm working on my Drafting final project and my ADR annotation. Should be interesting; Drafting consists of re-writing the affirmative defence of self-defence for murder, and ADR involves reviewing an article on the place of apology in dispute resolutions. I also have some hefty Env readings on the Biodiversity Convention. And, geek that I am, I'm cheerfully looking forward to all of the above ;)
"He's welcome to come visit any time," said Marco's dad as I picked Daniel up from Marco's house yesterday. This is so much nicer to hear than "Is he always like this?" Not that we've heard that in a while, but still ;)
Part of why I love kids is that they're so free of the bullsh*t we adults pick up and carry around in ever-thickening layers as the years go by. This means that occasionally they're shockingly callous or dumb, but it also frees them from a lot of needless stupidity and automatic assumptions. E.g. Marco, who had insisted to his dad that the kid in his class picture with long hair and the name 'Danielle' (French pronunciation of Daniel) was a boy. And his dad had not believed him until yesterday. And it had taken a bit of effort on his dad's part to accept that Daniel was just like any other kid, long hair aside - an effort that Marco had never had to make.
There's also Matthew, whose birthday party Daniel attended on Sunday, and who used to refer to Daniel as 'the girl-dude' when speaking of him to his mom. Not in a derogatory way at all, she said, just as a quick handy description. Matthew simply hadn't learned yet that insinuating any kind of femininity in the character of a man or boy was a deep, deep insult.
Driving with Justin the other day, for some reason we started talking about beliefs. And I said that I didn't believe in something or other (Heaven, I think), but many people did. "And that's fine. Canada's a free country, you're allowed to believe what you want."
"Why?"
I explained how Canada and the US had been founded and settled in large part by people who were persecuted back home for their beliefs. What was persecution? "Well, for example, if there was somebody who didn't believe in Jesus, because they were Jewish, they couldn't own land, they couldn't do certain jobs, they couldn't vote-"
"But that's TERRIBLE!!" said Justin, utterly shocked. "Jesus would HATE that!!"
Um, yeah. Yeah, he would. Why is that immediately obvious to a four year-old child, but invisible to most adults?
I'm musing about kids today because yesterday I didn't have my regular childfree Tuesday, wherein I clean and tidy our downstairs and then read till my eyes bug out. Yesterday Justin had his DPTP shot in the morning and I decided to just keep him home the rest of the day. We cooked, walked to Guy's and back, and generally just hung out. Very nice :)
Today is a different day. Had Env class in the morning and now I'm working on my Drafting final project and my ADR annotation. Should be interesting; Drafting consists of re-writing the affirmative defence of self-defence for murder, and ADR involves reviewing an article on the place of apology in dispute resolutions. I also have some hefty Env readings on the Biodiversity Convention. And, geek that I am, I'm cheerfully looking forward to all of the above ;)
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 09:17 am (UTC)Also, have I mentioned lately how jealous I am of your drafting class? It's exactly the class I've been wanting to take all through law school, and we don't have anything that's even close.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 11:36 am (UTC)Oh, doh! That sucks. It's such a lovely opportunity to exorcise all the simmering frustration that accumulates from reading acres and acres of poorly written decisions/provisions/misc legal writing. Very cathartic ;)
I love your kids
Date: 2004-11-17 09:27 am (UTC)"girl-dude" roflol!
Come live near me, you and your 'woman with beard" and girl-dude boys. We live a stress-free life, and, er, there are other selling points, but not the weather, or the restaraunts, or... No wait - here's the best one: US! Come live near us!
Pretty please with hobbits on top?
Sarah
Re: I love your kids
Date: 2004-11-17 11:38 am (UTC)Hee - you wouldn't believe how often Chris and I make little comments like, "Well, this wouldn't be a problem if we lived in Brandon" or "I bet Brandon's quite lovely this time of year." We miss you guys too :(
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 10:38 am (UTC)Um. Read it, but not in the library. :)
::sobbing::
Date: 2004-11-17 10:59 am (UTC)I can't read anymore, for fear of being more disruptive than I already have been, but this: And then her black eyes met his copper ones. *Suck beautiful eyes.*
Suck beautiful eyes! Yum! Eyeballs!
The Internet is precious...
Date: 2004-11-17 11:06 am (UTC)???
Sarah
Re: The Internet is precious...
Date: 2004-11-17 11:40 am (UTC)Re: ::sobbing::
Date: 2004-11-17 11:42 am (UTC)Re: ::sobbing::
Date: 2004-11-17 12:57 pm (UTC)Bad fiction that just keeps going and going and going and going...
Sarah
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 01:40 pm (UTC)I read his reflections on his mother and thought of you.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 07:10 pm (UTC)It's so bizarre when somebody else puts into words what's aimlessly buzzing around your own head.