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| See. Not all monsters are bad:) |
Snot-nosed Buddy awoke from a nap, obviously shaken. I always ask him, “How did you sleep? Did you have any dreams?” His usual response is, “Pretty good, Dad. The Pterodactyl….(Insert any Dinosaur or Pirate story here)” Although this time his response was, “Are monsters scary?” Oh boy. I knew this question, or one like it, would pop up sooner or later. Once again, I had procrastinated on preparing a speech. I let out a nervous giggle, in attempt to downplay and diffuse his fears. Then I did what I do best. I started babbling.
“Sometimes, monsters ARE scary Buddy. But most of the time, we think monsters are scary just because they’re different. They might look different, or act different, so we’re afraid of them. But sometimes, those monsters can be silly and funny! They might even be your best friends!” I went on babbling through the wardrobe change, with the intent of convincing Buddy there was no reason to fear falling asleep. That would be MY worst nightmare! Thankfully, he ran out of the room yelling, “I’M A PIRATE!” Phew! Crisis averted. I left the room with a victorious smirk on my face. Then I really started thinking about the first few sentences I blurted out.
Did I just teach Buddy a life lesson?
Of course he’s too young to hear about the “real monsters” that walk the Earth. That’s my job to protect him and teach him how to spot the real ones as he grows older. Meanwhile, the first time Buddy sees a PERSON that looks different than he does, or acts different than he does, and asks “Is that PERSON scary?”, I have my speech prepared. The speech is titled: ‘Monster Lesson #1’:)
One Funny Daddy 