Date NIght

“You guys are going to have a babysitter tonight.” I said to my children as they ate their dinner. “Why” said Tanner and “I am not a baby” said Jaxon. (You can tell this is not a common occurrence at our house). “OK, you can have a kid-sitter Jaxon”. “This kid-sitter is coming to play with you guys because Mom and Dad are going on a date tonight.” This must have caused a lot of concern with 3 year old Tanner. “What is a date?” He asked. “It is when mommy and daddy go somewhere without any kids and do something fun.” “Are you going on a cruise?” says Tanner. (???) “Um no, we will only be at a friends house for a couple of hours.” (where did he get that idea?) “Can we go too?” “Well, when you guys grow up and turn 16, then you can go on your own dates”. This is when Jaxon jumps in to the conversation. “How about 10 years old?” “Um, no, you need to be 16, plus you won’t even like girls when you are 10.” “Do you go on dates with girls?” “Yes.” They talk about different ages they would like to start dating and I kept telling them that it had to be 16. Then Tanner said “I know a girl, and she is eight. (Big dramatic emphasis) She can go on dates!” (???)

Tanner still has no idea what a date is. Today, a few days later, he was holding up two pencils crossed so they look like an X. He said to dad, “Hey this looks like a date!” dad made sure that he heard the word right and said “why is that a date?” “I don’t know but it looks cool.”