I never thought I'd have to explain the process of taxidermy to my four year old son. I'm all about being honest with my kids but it never entered my mind that I would have to talk about "the pride of a hunter" to my four year old. My brother-in-law loves to hunt deer, so processing deer and visiting the taxidermist are common events in our family. Surely Andrew had seen the mounted deer heads at Uncle Steve's house. Oh, guess not....while driving home late one evening, Andrew looked through the window of a house whose shades were still up. That's when he saw it....the deer head mounted on the wall.
Andrew: "Mama, why is there a deer on the wall at that house?"
me: "Ummmm.....because...well, see.....remember how I told you that God gave us animals so we could enjoy their beauty and also eat some of them?" (gosh, I'm already worried about what to say next or what Andrew is thinking...this just feels weird).
Andrew: "Yeah, I 'member but how come they got a deer head hanging on the wall in that house?"
me: "Well, because sometimes people like to remember the deer and how big and beautiful it was before it died so they (I'm really struggling to find the right words here) chop off the head, take it to a special person who stuffs it and then put it on the wall to look at."
Andrew: "Oh, okay."
Huh? That's all he had to say....just "okay"? What a relief. *Sigh*
Then, this morning we spotted three deer jumping alongside the road we were traveling. Andrew was so excited and screamed with delight in the car.
Andrew: "Look, Mama! Deer! Let's chop their heads off and take 'em home!"
me: "Ummmm.....because...well, see.....remember how I told you that God gave us animals so we could enjoy their beauty and also eat some of them?" (gosh, I'm already worried about what to say next or what Andrew is thinking...this just feels weird).
Andrew: "Yeah, I 'member but how come they got a deer head hanging on the wall in that house?"
me: "Well, because sometimes people like to remember the deer and how big and beautiful it was before it died so they (I'm really struggling to find the right words here) chop off the head, take it to a special person who stuffs it and then put it on the wall to look at."
Andrew: "Oh, okay."
Huh? That's all he had to say....just "okay"? What a relief. *Sigh*
Then, this morning we spotted three deer jumping alongside the road we were traveling. Andrew was so excited and screamed with delight in the car.
Andrew: "Look, Mama! Deer! Let's chop their heads off and take 'em home!"
4 comments:
Now that is why we have kids, to keep us humble and help us remember how vitally important the words we use are!! Sponges, they are just little precious sponges!!!
Now THAT is hilarious!!!
too funny!!!
Jonathan laughed out loud and said "I like this boy!"
Jonathan killed his first deer on the property of a friend. They have a daughter, who was 2 at the time. I babysat her everyday, and she called Jonathan "Jon-Jon." Her mother was concerned at how she would handle the concept of a dead deer, but her daddy took her out to the truck to see.
She patted the deer, and patted Jon-Jon and was fine.
The next Wednesday night, at church supper, 2 year old Sarah went from table to table, grinning hugely and telling everyone proudly "Jon-Jon kill Bambi!"
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