The Saturday morning daddy-daughter breakfasts at the downtown coffeeshop incline Julia toward thinking about crucial issues in her life, such as whether cream cheese is better than peanut butter (it isn’t), when she can have coffee (when she’s older), and why we can’t go out for breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday. So far, she’s reasonably accepting of the (real) answer to this last question, which is that, even though we are very lucky to have a house and food and clothes and a car and toys and some fun stuff (“like your skis, Daddy”), we can’t afford to hit the coffeeshop twice in two days.
This shades quite naturally into questions about why we live in a “little house” (a townhouse), not a “big house” like her friends, and from there it’s a short distance to a broader discussion of having stuff, and how much is enough, and why some people don’t have enough (like the little girl in her kindergarten who sometimes doesn’t have a snack).
Trust me, we have basically this same conversation every Saturday morning. It makes me feel a little bit guilty about ordering a latte and not just a small cup of the light roast.
Last Saturday, Julia let the have/have not conversation tail off. I got busy doing something with Genevieve, and hardly noticed that Julia was busy working on something that required me to spell out an occasional word. When she was finished, she read it out to me. It’s cute and sad and hopeful all at once. I’m so proud of my Junior Democrat!
Translation:
The world is good for some people but for some people the world is not good because they do not have enough so you give them money. By Julia Tassava.
LOVE that girl!!!