Monday, September 29, 2008

a well rounded conversation...

So in one of my last blogs I mentioned that I had a story to tell that had to do with my boys taking out the trash and I would come back to it later. Now that I have something else to write about I am remembering that I need to post that story so I remember it later. So here it goes...

A few weeks ago we were in between camping trips and had to clean the house for a stampin up party that was going to be here. My kids were a GREAT help to me and we were able to get it all done in time for the first guest with the addition of baking brownies to serve.... AWESOME!

While we were cleaning, my boys, (3 and 1) were taking out the trash for me. They have done this many times with their daddy so they knew what to do and I wasn't far behind them with more. As my 3 year old was walking out to the street, where we keep the trash cans, and his brother was following him, a police car drove by and saw them. He promptly flipped a U turn and came to see why two babies were walking towards the street. By this time, I am already out to the trash cans and the boys are more than half way back to the house. Mr Police man comes to say hi to me.... (The chat that I had with him was not NEARLY as exciting as the one I had with my kids afterward.) He gave all the kids pretty shiny stickers and headed on his way.

Now, little Steven who has become facinated with all things boy, asks "Mommy! Did that police man have a gun???" "Of course" I responded. "Mommy, I am so glad he didn't shoot any of us!!!!" (Now I have to add here that he is TOTALLY serious. I am not sure how much inflection you can read through the screen so I just have to come out with it. ) "Steven, The police mans job is to prtect people, not to shoot them." "In fact, that is what he was doing here. He had to make sure that you and your brother were not going to run out into the street. He needed to make sure that mommy was taking care of you." This satisfied my son. BUT my daughter who came out to get a sticker from the police man was listening close by and decided to kick in a few questions of her own....
"What happens if you weren't being a good mommy?"

So.... we got to talk about CPS. How some parents are NOT good parents and they do NOT take care of their kids and somebody needs to make sure that kids are ok. Then about foster homes. The next question out of my perceptive daughter was... "Is that where we are going to get kids from?" The kids have known as long as we have that they are going to have new siblings and that they are not going to come out of mommies tummy like everybody else has. The ones that can grasp the concept of adoption have heard that word. But now Heather understands it.
All of my kids seem to benefit from each others inquisitiveness.... They all piggyback questions. I guess this is a good thing. I mean, it lets me know that they are paying attention. Anyway, the other daughter decided to put in her contribution to the conversation at this point.... "Mommy... what happens if CPS comes and takes us even though we DO have good parents?" (Said with the most concerned of looks on her face)

So we also got to talk about an organization that we are a part of that remove fear from a situation like that.... HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association)

THAT was a well rounded conversation all started because my kids were helping me clean the house.... Got to love it. It all ended up good in the end and I think I did a good enough job representing each step of the process that the kids are not fearful, but have some background on where their new siblings will be coming from.
How would you have handled it?