Last night I'm giving Timothy a bath right after he watched the Great Pumpkin special on TV.
"Dad, why does Linus keep going to the pumpkin patch when the Great Pumpkin never comes?"
"Because he thinks the Great Pumpkin will come next time."
"But the Great Pumpkin isn't real."
"Lots of people believe in things that aren't real."
"I don't."
"Yes, you do."
Then he looks up at me and his voice gets quiet. "Santa Claus?"
I neither confirmed nor denied, but I have to admit that it's fun to see the wheels turning.
Doomsday Fish
3 hours ago
4 comments:
He's only 6! Sad.
PS: We watched it too!
I don't know whether to congratulate Timothy on figuring it out, or lament with him over the loss of his childhood.
You are no longer allowed to be with my children without proper supervision!
C'mon, people, Linus practically gives it away in the show! Charlie Brown asks when he's going to stop believing in things that aren't real, and Linus responds "When YOU stop believing in that fat guy in a red suit and the white beard who goes, "Ho, ho, ho!"
But I will finish the story so you don't think I'm a terrible father. Like I said, I neither confirmed nor denied, but responded with something like "What do you think?" And he thought about it for a second and then reassured himself that Santa Claus was indeed real.
There you go, childhood safely intact.
I just thought it was interesting that when I introduced the idea that he believes in things that aren't real, he knew immediately what at least one of those things might be.
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