Will I Lie to My Kids About Columbus? Part 2

No, of course I didn't lie to my kids about who Columbus really was and about what he really did. But I didn't tell them the whole truth either.

My 5-year-old son, The Maestro of Mouth, did call me out on his "Who was Christopher Columbus?" question. As I said, he's a stickler for following up on his questions.

When we talked about it briefly before heading to the play room to jump on the crib mattresses I randomly strew across the carpet for Mexican jumping bean fun, I simply told him, "I think Columbus was a man who made some pretty bad choices. He wasn't honest. He wasn't the first to discover America. No one knows for sure, but mommy thinks Native Americans or Indians lived here first. If you want, we can celebrate someone else on your day off from school today. Can you think of anyone you'd like to know more about today other than Columbus?"

"Nope," he muffled with his mouth crammed full of blueberry muffin. "If Columbus isn't alive anymore than I don't need to beat him up, I guess."

Nice. I condemn Columbus for his violent past and my son wants to retroactively put the beat down on Columbus for being violent. Ironic.

I was supposed to post Part 2, the answer to whether or not I'd lie to my kids about how horrible/genocidal Columbus was in his so-called discovery of America, but instead I fell asleep early while reading a night-night book to my 3-year-old son, Moody Cheeks McGee. Yep. I fell asleep on his top bunk and generously drooled all over his pillow. Call it bonding if you will. I blew off blogging because I was busy encouraging Kade's already poor sleep habits.

I agree with the blogger who commented on my first anti-Columbus Day posting from thepete.com about waiting to fully inform my children about Columbus' various atrocities. He said if I told them the whole truth at such young ages they might become cynical. I fear their wet blanket mama who takes life way too seriously has already told them too much about way too many things. I can see the jaded cynicism coming through my 5- and 3-year-olds already.

Mouth recently told me on the way home from private school that, "Did you know, mommy, that a lot of people, in fact almost all people, work jobs just to make money? They don't even care what they do for a job. They just are greedy for money. They don't even want to help anyone with their job like Daddy does. What's up with that, mommy?"


There's a cynical future ahead for that one, I tell ya.

In unrelated news, I'm late to pick my 3-year-old, Kade, up from preschool because I'm writing this right now. What I mean was, in related news I'm having three suspect moles burned off tomorrow at the dermatologist's. I'm a little nervous about the pain, even if I did have two kids at home sans pain killers/epidural. I'm a total wuss about mole removal, especially when I committed to help my new single mama friend take care of her newborn on night shift tomorrow night. I wonder if my boo-boos will still be sore/tender and I hope she doesn't catch on because I really want to help her out.