Evidently, Chloe has been trying to wade through the murky waters of the concept of time. History is spoken of, taught, read about and discussed a lot in this house. We just can't seem to get enough of it. You might even call me a history junkie of sorts. Not that I could spout off random dates and facts to you, my mind doesn't work that way. I love history for the stories and for the lessons you learn from them. So, I'm forever telling the kids stories from history so they can make modern day connections to those same lessons.
In order to make the story understandable to Bennett and Chloe, however, I have to discuss time in very broad, sweeping strokes. For instance, 'A Long Time Ago' or 'Back Then' could mean Creation or the Civil War or when Grandma and Grandpa were kids - it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that they weren't there and that's pretty much all they care about. They normally ask, "Was I still in heaven when this happened?" This is normally our reference point. When you're 4 and 6 you still have a very egocentric world view (how sad that many 30, 40 and 50 year olds still do too).
Anyways, every other Monday the kids and I deliver food to the elderly at a Senior Apartment complex in our city. We were stopped by several old ladies in hall and enjoying visiting with each other for quite a well. They did a lot of reminiscing of days gone by. Fine by me, I love to listen to their stories. As we parted ways, Chloe asked me, "Mommy, are we in the back thens?"
I could totally see her point of view. Here we were with a bunch of old ladies talking about 'back then', so she just assumed we were experiencing it. I told her, "No Honey. Those ladies lived in the 'back thens' but we're not there right now - we're just talking about when they were little girls."
Time is such a funny thing in the eyes of children. I just adore seeing those wheels turning and watching as their brain processes information we take for granted.
