The 7-year-old boy I babysit for had just been put to bed. I see his little frame in the doorway to the kitchen, holding his stuffed rabbit and rubbing his eyes. He hears something in his room, some kind of creaking, he says. We go listen. Nothing. I explain the nature of the walls in New York, how sometimes you can hear the plumbing from the person above... I tuck him back into bed. He says:
7 yr old: Today's a sad day.
Me: What?
7 yr old: Today's a sad day. I saw it on the T.V. in the taxi.
Me: .....You're right.... Today's a sad day.
7 yr old: What were those called?
Me: What were what called?
7 yr old: Those buildings. They were called....ummm.
Me: The twin towers?
7 yr old: No, what was the building called?
Me: The World Trade Center?
7 yr old: Yeah! The World Trade Center! It fell to the ground. What made it fall to the ground? Was it like an asteroid?!?!
Me: .....Well...kind of like that.
7 yr old: Maybe the sun! Maybe the sun CAME DOWN! And CRASHED into those buildings!
Me: ....You know what? This isn't a nice thing to think about right before bed. You need to think happy thoughts before bedtime.
7 yr old: Yeah... Cuz nothing like that would ever happen around here.
Me: Right... Nothing like that.
7 yr old: Was that like....a REALLY long time ago?
Me: That was seven years ago.
7 yr old: Is that a really long time ago?
Me: That was, like, right before you were born.
7 yr old: Oh man. I wouldn't have wanted to be born when that happened.
Me: Yeah.
7 yr old: But that wouldn't happen anywhere around here, right.
Me: Right.... But you shouldn't be thinking of sad things right before bed. Just happy things. Think about happy things.
7 yr old: Yeah. OK. Happy things... Love you. G'night.
Me: Love you, too. G'night buddy.
2 comments:
Ya know what I feel sad about? I can't identify a New York City landscape anymore without the towers...
In the good news department, I am so glad that little guy you spoke with gets to stay innocent a little longer.
You're going to be such a great mommy!!
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