The therapist was absolutely delighted with the tale, and got a good laugh out of it. She told Danielle that it was "simply adorable" that she was still so naive and innocent.
It was all I could do not to slap myself in forehead during our session.
Yes, we got a good laugh out of the story. Yes, it was cute.
But there's also a darker, more frightening reality to this tale. It's another example of how Danielle doesn't have much in the way of common sense, and it illustrates her inability to figure things out. Sure, Danielle's expression of shock was quite funny, but it worries me greatly that she's not able to decipher the difference between truth and fiction.
Cyndi left the following comment on my post:
Exactly why your kid is not going to survive on her own.
I fear she may be right.
Now I think all parents, at some time or another, take quite a bit of pleasure in telling silly stories to their kids as a test of their gullibility. Certainly my parents did that when I was younger, and the discovery of the truth was always worth a good laugh. We played similar games with Danielle, and briefly had her convinced (at different times) that cars reproduced by laying eggs, and that they were made out of old, crushed beer cans.
I fondly the time that Danielle very seriously asked me if cars really did lay eggs while we were driving somewhere. She was about 11 at the time, and we all laughed so hard when the truth was revealed that I almost ran off the road.
But stuff that's funny when a kid is a kid, doesn't always stay funny when they become a teen.
Maybe this is just another one of those things where it's better to laugh about something than it is to cry.
Well, yeah, sometimes you have to laugh or else you'd be despairing over every little thing all the time. Common sense seems to be scarce for some of our kids. My youngest, placed with us at 8 1/2 mos. and now almost 8 yrs. is probably just a normal child, but after having several kids in a row who are all older than he is (18, 17, 16, 13 and 11) who do not catch on very quick, he looks like a genius. At Thanksgiving this year, my college aged (22) son was home from school teasing the almost 8 yo about something and my little one commented, "Good one, I'm not a little kid anymore, you aren't gonna get me on that one!". He is so sensible and he actually remembers what he learns - it's a miracle!! The differences in cognitive functioning and common sense between the middle kids and the youngest are astounding - and quite sad if you think about it. The 8 yo has already passed most of them and he knows it.
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