The 31-year old Sunbeam

Two posts in one day. Now I can rest for two months... Just kidding.

Last Sunday I went back to Primary. I've now been to Primary twice in my entire life. You may have read about my first experience in Primary.

The second visit was much less traumatic. I had no need to pry children off my leg, and the stake president didn't catch me locking my kids in the member cleaning closet. So, things were actually going quite well. One of our kids was having a rough day, just needed some "Dad time", and he was either coming to Elders Quorum with me, or I was going to Primary with him. Since I had the decision making power, we went to Primary.

One thing I learned from my second visit: it's probably better that I don't know what our kids say when they are in school/Primary/etc. Lizzy warned me some time ago that kids will share anything and everything, and I believed her then. I consider those words prophetic now. I'll share.

It was... sharing time? Hmmm, I don't know. I've heard about sharing time, but I have no idea what that means. Anyway, Sister Increvil was giving a little lesson/talk. She held up a picture of a waterfall, and the kids and Sister Increvil talked about how waterfalls are very pretty to look at, but can also be dangerous if we get too close.

She then asked for other examples of things that might be fun, but can be dangerous. Kids were saying things like, bicycles, cars, airplanes, etc. My son had his hand up, so I asked him what he wanted to say.

Son: "Bad movies. They can give you bad dreams."

You know, I thought, that's really insightful for a 4-year old. When Sister Increvil got back to our side of the room, she called on my son.

Sr. Increvil: "What are you thinking of that can be fun, but dangerous?"

Son: "If we watch bad movies, we can have bad dreams."

Sr. Increvil: "That's right. It might be fun or exciting to watch some movies, but there are some movies that we shouldn't watch." (prepares to call on someone else)

Son: "I watched a dinosaur movie..."

Me: Okay, kid, you've answered your question. It's someone else's turn!

Son: "and a Tyrannasaurus Rex ...ate... another dinosaur!" (dramatic pause before "ate")

Me: Is there a hole in this floor I can slide into?

Son: "and I had a bad, bad, bad, really bad dream."

Sister Increvil, fortunately, moved on. A chuckling, but sympathetic parent behind me patted me on the shoulder. I sat wondering what on earth the kids had watched.

Had they seen "Jurassic Park"?! That must have been while a babysitter was over! You know, we tell the babysitters they're not allowed to watch TV when we're not around for a reason!

Well, later I found out. My son was referring to "The Land Before Time". We'd watched this with the kids, and they loved it, and they (apparently) had been requesting to watch it again and again last week. Yes, there are a couple of T-Rex's, which the kids found scary (but also consider their favorite part). But to my knowledge they don't eat anything/anyone. At least not on screen. I'm guessing my son's over-active imagination filled in the blanks.

So, there you have it. Sister Increvil thinks our kids watch blood and gore on TV, and I realized that I really don't want to know what our kids share during sharing time.