Kid: I don’t even know what this song is saying. Womanizer? Is that it?
Me: Yes, it’s saying “womanizer.”
Brief silence during which I dread the next question.
Kid: What’s a womanizer?
Me: She’s singing about a man who dates different women at the same time.
Kid: Oh.
Me: Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, right? People can love more than one other person at the same time.
Kid: Right. I love all my friends. And my siblings.
Me: It’s only really a bad thing if you lie about it. Like if you try to make one person believe that they’re the only one you love when you’re actually seeing lots of different people.
Kid: Can you imagine if I told my brother and sister that? “XXXXXX, I only love you. I don’t love your brother.”
Me: That would be mean.
Kid: And wrong.
Me: Yeah.
Brief silence during which the music switches to something I want to explicate even less than the Britney Spears song. I decide to avoid the subject.
Me: You know there’s a name for loving more than one person at once.
Kid: What’s that?
Me: Polyamory.
Kid: I know what that means!
Me: Oh yeah?
Kid: Yeah, we discussed that in math class!
Me: *stunned*
Kid: “Poly” means many, right? Like polygon?
Me, relieved: Oh, right. And I bet you know what the suffix “amory” means, right?
Kid, perkily: Boyfriends?
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Remember that my blogaversary is coming up on Saturday. I’ve gotten some really lovely entries for my contest and I’d love it if you’d toss one in as well. Up for grabs are gift cards worth $200 to Fascinations, so go to it!
heh. who knew that math classes were subbing for sex ed these days?
Oh I love that child of yours!
Just wait till she graduates from Britney Spears to Lilly Allen (“I’m lying on the wet patch/in the middle of the bed/I’m feeling pretty damn’ hard done by/I spent ages giving head…) Our daughter always asks us what that means, but with a mischevious twinkle in her eye!
Great punchline! I always thought a womanizer was a cad, a rogue, a man who used women and didn’t respect them. Interesting that it doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing.
I don’t know how you keep from snorting coffee up your nose and driving off the road when you’re in the car with this child. I hope the adventure continues for you.
Simple.
I don’t drink coffee.
:)
I absolutely love, LOVE this posting! You have one sharp cookie of a kid!
“I always thought a womanizer was a cad, a rogue, a man who used women and didn’t respect them. ”
Yeah, this. :) I wouldn’t say someone who dates multiple women is a womanizer. Someone who does it deceitfully, who uses women, who manipulates women .. that’s a womanizer. And unfortunately I’ve known and been involved with more than a smart woman should. Hopefully I’ve wised up. :)
Oh that was fun to read and made me laugh. Thank you.