If a Moose Falls Into A Giant Potty....

Lately I have noticed a increase in the “What-If-athons” with my children. You know, the hypothetical situation they throw at you, just to see if you are listening (or care); these little dabs of fantasy to assure them that reality has not changed. We recently had a doozie of a question. On the long trip down to my in-laws our 8 year old daughter, who just got braces, piped up in the back, “What if two moose were walking in the forest and they came across a giant potty and one of them fell in?”
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Now how do you answer this question? I know she is testing the boundaries of reality, trying to see if she is normal (not a word I would describe my 8 year old… or any of my girls, but that’s for another discussion), and a touch of being silly. So I asked her, “Honey, what do you think would happen?” (I know by doing this she learns to come up with different problem solving skills) And she replied, ever so sweetly, “That they would probably get their horns stuck when it flushed.”
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This affirmation of reality has spread among all of our children, especially the 14 year old. She loves to come up to me and randomly ask me, “What-if my nose was upside-down?” or “What-if I looked like this?”, and would proceed to make the strangest face. With each “What-If” being a bit stranger then the last.

I had been struggling with my frustration at these “What-If-Athons”, until I had a lengthy conversation with my 14 year old. She told me that her friends are picking on her, talking behind her back and just being plain mean. It was then that I realized that all of her “what-ifs” she was constantly throwing at us, was her way of making sure we would always love her and accept her for who she was. With that epiphany, it became clear that the moose in the potty was more about her new braces than 2 silly moose in a forest. Each girl has had their own strange “What-Ifs”, and each are going through changing times of uncertainty.

So I look forward to my everyday experience with the off the wall “What-If-athons”, especially if they bring me closer to my children.