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Stories

This is what a lot of our conversations sound like:

Daughter: “Can I tell you what happened in My Little Pony?”
Me: “Sure”
Daughter: “So first princess Celestia calls all the ponies to Ponyville. Oh and Rarity, she’s making a new dress for her friend. Oh and Twilight Sparkle .. “
Me: “You have five sentences”
Daughter: “Ten”
My wife: “Seven” (I’m already angry about this because I would have stuck to five)

I want her to learn two seemingly conflicting skills. The ability to summarize and the ability to tell a story; not five sentences that may or may not be connected.

I also want two seemingly conflicting things for myself! I want to listen to all her stories in great detail, but also have time to have my own thoughts. Everyone tells me that when she’s a teenager, I won’t be able to get more than a couple of syllables from her. I hate that thought. On the other hand, I also dream about dinners where we’re talking about the news or discussing some ideas, or just enjoying the food in silence and not listening to a retelling of the Phineas and Ferb show.

This I feel is the twilight zone that parents live in. Wanting to teach a child something like being brief and then worrying that child will be stop talking. Wanting some peace and worrying that there would be too much peace, and then feeling guilty about wanting peace.

There’s one thing I’m sure of. Five sentences or a hundred, I do want you to come and tell me your stories. I’m not looking forward to a world with no sentences. I am proud of knowing most of the characters in My Little Pony.
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