Tied down

Mr B working from home is a good thing when it means he doesn't have to endure lots of travel. But it does mean we have to be super quiet around the house when he's working. Which doesn't come easily to my kids. When I was little my dad worked shifts, so we all became expert at creeping round the house without making any noise, and playing quietly too. To give Mr B a break from the occasional outbursts of unacceptable noise, we headed out to Kirkcaldy for some shopping.

Didn't quite seem to get through our list of purchases, but we had fun nonetheless. Normally in the car the kids chat and I listen. On the bus (car in for fixing) I sat with Conor and had his chat all to myself all the way (Katherine was, inevitably, reading).

We passed a cemetery:

C: There are a lot of people in there.
SooB: Yes, it's a big cemetery.
C: Maybe they all died in a war? Like, oh what's it called, World War One or World War Two.
SooB: I think some of them might have, but they'll all have died at different times, not just in one war.

Short pause.

C: Why is there no World War Three?
SooB: It hasn't happened yet. Hopefully it never will.
C: Why don't people like wars?
SooB: Because lots of people get killed.
C: Why don't people just tell the people who start the wars, not to start the wars?
SooB: Good question. I don't know the answer.

Long pause.

C: When I grow up I'm going tell the people who start the wars not to have wars.
SooB: Good idea. I bet they'd listen to you.
C: So I'll have three jobs when I grow up: palaeontologist, making money and telling the people not to have wars.

Excuse my indulgence in recording this. I have lots of interesting conversations with the kids but this one stuck with me, even tomorrow when I'm back-blipping this.

The tie is Conor's. Perhaps looking forward to his career as an international peace-requester, he asked if he could have a tie. I told him he didn't need one, so he said he'd buy it with his own money. He did. His Dad tied it, and it only came off his neck at bathtime. I think he may have slept in it.

Kids are wonderful, and strange.