Thursday 20 November 2014

We've Clung On To The Age Of Innocence.. kind of.

Yesterday in the car on the way home, the nine year old turned to face me and said. "I want to ask you a question and I want you to be honest with me"  It's very odd when you hear yourself being repeated.

His question was:

Does Father Christmas buy the presents or do you?

Just two days prior to this MrM and I had had this conversation regarding the nine year old. Did he still believe or not?  I thought yes, hes generally quite young natured and naive. We've always told the children that as Father Christmas has so many children to look after, we have to save money to help him get all the presents. 

The nine year old has got an X-Box, however trying to find suitable games on an X-Box is a mission.  Apparently all his friends are playing Call of Duty (rated 18) and  HALO (rated 16).  I've told him that they aren't age appropriate and he has to wait until his older.  I'll let him watch age 12 films but I have to check them first. The current run of Marvel films are fantastic.  We share a Google Play account so I can make sure no inappropriate games are being downloaded and no money is being splashed out. You hear these horror stories where children have wracked up £1,000's of pounds worth of bills downloading in-app games.  

He's never been sure about the tooth fairy although he likes to get money under his pillow and he's never believed in the Easter Bunny and I've never promoted it. 

I also don't want him spoiling it for the five year old. At the moment they don't have the greatest relationship, it's all one-upmanship and he would love having the power of knowing something she didn't and dropping that bomb on her. She's a smart cookie and I'm sure will suss it before the age of nine but until then I want to keep her as young as I possibly can too.

So what did I do with that loaded question?

I lied through my back teeth to keep him believing!