A strange thing happened on the way to the land of Nod…

Background: When daughters get tucked in at night, we snuggle for two songs. During the first song, they can talk to me and ask any questions or voice any concerns they might need to get off their mind before sleeping. (As they are 7 and 4 we’ve yet to encounter something that could not be answered in the space of a couple of minutes – at least enough of an answer to give then enough peace to sleep.) Now, on to my entry.

I’m tucking in the girls last night, and have a brain full of cold medicine, so maybe this incident isn’t as weighty as I happen to think?

DD1 always gets her snuggles second. (Just because, that’s why.) During her first song she turns away from me and states, “I just feel like something bad is about to happen.” I’m intrigued. “Like what? Soccer won’t be fun? You might have a bad dream? You might not like lunch tomorrow?” “No,” replies DD1, “Like someone bad wants to take over the whole world.” Oh. Don’t I feel foolish? “Well, honey, I don’t think anyone really wants to take over the WHOLE world.” DD1, “Why not?” Me, “Umm, well, I find taking care of a family of 4 to be somewhat overwhelming – I can’t imaging being responsible for 5 billion people.” I smile, so she knows I’m being silly – and usually this just makes her smile too and we’re done. Not tonight. DD1 then asks, “Mom, what is a puppet master?” (Wha? Where exactly is this going?) Me, “Remember when we saw ‘The Sound of Music’, and they put on the puppet show for the dad? The people who were making the puppets dance were the puppet masters.” (thinking to myself: Is this even remotely correct?) Daughter, “You mean those puppets with strings? What are those?” Me, “Marionettes.” Daughter, “How do the puppet masters know how to make them dance?” Me, “I imagine it takes a lot of practice.” Daughter: “Maybe we’re the puppets with strings. What are they again?” Me, “Marionettes. And, no… we’re not someone’s marionettes. There are no strings on our arms and we possess free will.” (Running through my head: Please don’t ask me about free will. Please don’t ask me about fee will….) Daughter: “If we were they could make us fly. They could make us do anything.”

From the other bed pipes up DD2, “God runs the whole world. He created it.”

DD1, “Oh, right. Good night mom.”

Is my daughter, at age 7, really starting to fear governmental conspiracy theories? Or is that the cold medicine reasoning for me?

This? Is why you cannot do drugs when you’re a parent. I suppose I always knew that – but who knew that Alka Seltzer Plus could skew your perceptions so drastically?

And, lastly, I think I’m going to let DD2 run the Q & A from now on. She seems surprisingly insightful!