I'll always remember
While we sat down for dinner last night, Sylvain and I decided to take a few minutes to explain the rules of going to the Military Museums to Xavier. They were going on a field trip with Beavers last night and he's never been to a museum like that, so we wanted to make sure he didn't think he could touch and play with everything.
Papa: Xavier, at the museum do we touch all the things that are there for people to see?
Xavier: No.
Papa: Because there are some ropes in front of things at the museum, and it looks like you could just go under them, but we can't do that.
Xavier: Ropes? Like the ones at the pool?
Me: Sort of, honey, but these ones are to protect the things from everybody touching them.
Papa: Now, if the other Beavers decide they're going to go under the ropes and not pay attention to the rules, is Xavier going to do that?
Xavier: No, Papa. I'm not. But I want to see the guns. That would be so cool. And I wonder if they will let us touch them too...
I grabbed Xavier's napkin and rolled it into a line and put a truck on one side to represent an item at the museum. And I grabbed another toy to represent Xavier. Geez that kid doesn't listen sometimes. Well, no, I guess that's not true. He just has a hard time focusing. He goes off on tangents that have nothing to do with what we're talking about. Meh. He's five.
Me: Xavier, this is the rope. Okay? This is the soldier's uniforms, okay? And this is you. Now is Xavier going to go under the rope like this?
Xavier: No, Maman. I'm not.
Me: Okay, that's all we're trying to tell you. Is to follow the rules.
Xavier: Okay Maman.
Papa: We have to follow the rules so that the things there are preserved.
Me: We can't touch the things in the museum. Unless the people there tell you that you can touch it. Everything there is from the wars that happened a long time ago.
Xavier: What wars?
Papa: Well, a long time ago, the people in the world had a war. Like a very big fight. And it took a LONG time to end.
Me: Soldiers from our country went to fight so that we could be free.
Xavier: Free? Who were they fighting?
Me: Well, they were fighting people in other countries that wanted to have OUR country. Our soldiers went there to protect us and our land from being taken away.
Xavier: How can they take our country away from us?
Papa: It's hard to explain.
Me: They wanted to control us and what we did. That's what we mean.
Xavier: Oh. So did they use the tanks? I be the tanks were really loud. How did they get the tanks over to the other countries? Did they use big guns?
Me: Xavier. It doesn't matter right now what sort of weapons they used.
Papa: We go to the museum to remember. We don't want to forget the people that fought. Because lots of maman's and papa's, well mostly papa's, went to war and never came home. And that makes me sad to think of all the kids that grew up without their papa. I don't want to think of you growing up without me.
Xavier: But the wars are over.
Papa: Yes, but we send our soldiers to other countries on peacekeeping missions and things like that.
Xavier. What does that mean?
Papa: Well, there are fights going on right now in other places in the world. And we send our soldiers over to help stop the fighting and protect the innocent people that aren't really in the fight. But sometimes our soldiers get hurt. Like today I saw a picture in the newspaper of a little boy your age, standing next to his Maman. And they were watching his Papa, he was in a... well, he...
Me: His papa was in a coffin.
Papa: Yes, his papa was in a coffin, his papa died. Sometimes the people that want the fights to keep going do very bad things. They put bombs in cars by the road, so that they explode when the soldiers walk by them. And sometimes the soldiers don't know that there are bombs in the car, they walk by thinking everything is okay, and then it explodes.
Xavier: Oh. Is that what happened to his Papa?
Papa: I think so. But there's also kids playing in the street and other people walking around. So it's not always soldiers that get hurt, sometimes it's regular people.
Xavier: Kids? Like me? Why would they hurt kids?
Papa: Because they're bad and they just want to keep the fight going. And if that means hurting kids, then that's what they do.
Xavier: That's bad. You know, when I grow up I'm going to invent an flying tank. That way we can kill all the bad guys and they won't hurt anybody else. Yea, and the tank would...
Me: Xavier. When you grow up, Maman hopes that you won't have to invent that. I hope that we won't need tanks and guns anymore.
Papa: That's right, maybe when you grow up the world will finally have found a way to get along.
Xavier: (after a pause) Well, then I'll invent a flying car. And the car would be under the plane part so that....
To a five year old, there's always something else to do. But the point is that we managed to explain to him why those things are in the museum. In the process we sort of reminded ourselves too. It was good to talk to him about it. Because then when he came home this is the first thing he said.
Xavier: Hi Maman!
Xavier: Yes. And you know what? On that day, Friday... (turns to Papa).... what's that day called again?
Me: Remembrance Day.
Xavier: Right. On that day we are supposed to remember. But know what Maman? I'm ALWAYS going to remember. Forever. I won't ever forget.
Papa: Xavier, at the museum do we touch all the things that are there for people to see?
Xavier: No.
Papa: Because there are some ropes in front of things at the museum, and it looks like you could just go under them, but we can't do that.
Xavier: Ropes? Like the ones at the pool?
Me: Sort of, honey, but these ones are to protect the things from everybody touching them.
Papa: Now, if the other Beavers decide they're going to go under the ropes and not pay attention to the rules, is Xavier going to do that?
Xavier: No, Papa. I'm not. But I want to see the guns. That would be so cool. And I wonder if they will let us touch them too...
I grabbed Xavier's napkin and rolled it into a line and put a truck on one side to represent an item at the museum. And I grabbed another toy to represent Xavier. Geez that kid doesn't listen sometimes. Well, no, I guess that's not true. He just has a hard time focusing. He goes off on tangents that have nothing to do with what we're talking about. Meh. He's five.
Me: Xavier, this is the rope. Okay? This is the soldier's uniforms, okay? And this is you. Now is Xavier going to go under the rope like this?
Xavier: No, Maman. I'm not.
Me: Okay, that's all we're trying to tell you. Is to follow the rules.
Xavier: Okay Maman.
Papa: We have to follow the rules so that the things there are preserved.
Me: We can't touch the things in the museum. Unless the people there tell you that you can touch it. Everything there is from the wars that happened a long time ago.
Xavier: What wars?
Papa: Well, a long time ago, the people in the world had a war. Like a very big fight. And it took a LONG time to end.
Me: Soldiers from our country went to fight so that we could be free.
Xavier: Free? Who were they fighting?
Me: Well, they were fighting people in other countries that wanted to have OUR country. Our soldiers went there to protect us and our land from being taken away.
Xavier: How can they take our country away from us?
Papa: It's hard to explain.
Me: They wanted to control us and what we did. That's what we mean.
Xavier: Oh. So did they use the tanks? I be the tanks were really loud. How did they get the tanks over to the other countries? Did they use big guns?
Me: Xavier. It doesn't matter right now what sort of weapons they used.
Papa: We go to the museum to remember. We don't want to forget the people that fought. Because lots of maman's and papa's, well mostly papa's, went to war and never came home. And that makes me sad to think of all the kids that grew up without their papa. I don't want to think of you growing up without me.
Xavier: But the wars are over.
Papa: Yes, but we send our soldiers to other countries on peacekeeping missions and things like that.
Xavier. What does that mean?
Papa: Well, there are fights going on right now in other places in the world. And we send our soldiers over to help stop the fighting and protect the innocent people that aren't really in the fight. But sometimes our soldiers get hurt. Like today I saw a picture in the newspaper of a little boy your age, standing next to his Maman. And they were watching his Papa, he was in a... well, he...
Me: His papa was in a coffin.
Papa: Yes, his papa was in a coffin, his papa died. Sometimes the people that want the fights to keep going do very bad things. They put bombs in cars by the road, so that they explode when the soldiers walk by them. And sometimes the soldiers don't know that there are bombs in the car, they walk by thinking everything is okay, and then it explodes.
Xavier: Oh. Is that what happened to his Papa?
Papa: I think so. But there's also kids playing in the street and other people walking around. So it's not always soldiers that get hurt, sometimes it's regular people.
Xavier: Kids? Like me? Why would they hurt kids?
Papa: Because they're bad and they just want to keep the fight going. And if that means hurting kids, then that's what they do.
Xavier: That's bad. You know, when I grow up I'm going to invent an flying tank. That way we can kill all the bad guys and they won't hurt anybody else. Yea, and the tank would...
Me: Xavier. When you grow up, Maman hopes that you won't have to invent that. I hope that we won't need tanks and guns anymore.
Papa: That's right, maybe when you grow up the world will finally have found a way to get along.
Xavier: (after a pause) Well, then I'll invent a flying car. And the car would be under the plane part so that....
To a five year old, there's always something else to do. But the point is that we managed to explain to him why those things are in the museum. In the process we sort of reminded ourselves too. It was good to talk to him about it. Because then when he came home this is the first thing he said.
Xavier: Hi Maman!
Xavier: Yes. And you know what? On that day, Friday... (turns to Papa).... what's that day called again?
Me: Remembrance Day.
Xavier: Right. On that day we are supposed to remember. But know what Maman? I'm ALWAYS going to remember. Forever. I won't ever forget.
And none of us should.
What a good dinnertime! You and Sylvain did a wonderful job explaining, and I think Xavier will NOT forget. We always took our kids to a Remembrance Day service and I remember a lot of interesting conversations afterwards. Well done, Tanya!
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