James and I were in the car and I had the movie Mama Mia playing. James was sitting in the front seat so couldn’t see the movie which makes the listener pay attention more. He was asking why there were three men who Sophie believed to be her father. I told him that sometimes the woman doesn’t know who the father is because she has loved more than one man around the time she got pregnant. Then he got concerned, “Well who did she marry because he has to be the father.” I went on to explain that sometimes men and women don’t get married but they still have children and are considered the baby’s mother and father. This rocked his “strict rule world”. Women and men get married and that is the only way they can be a mother and a father. Okay, I couldn’t shake his world up too much. Again he asked, “Who does she marry?” “Well, Donna gets married to Sam but that is at the very end of the movie.” “Well then, Sam has to be the father.” “Not necessarily, Harry and Bill still could be Sophie’s father technically and they all want to have her as their daughter. But James, it turns out that Harry is Gay. He loves men and he wants to marry a man.” “Mom are you Gay? You love a man and married him.” “Ah… yes I did but a woman who marries a man isn’t usually Gay. A man who loves a man is Gay and a woman who loves a woman is Gay.” “Well, I know that I am not Gay.” “Your choice and you will continue to learn about who you are as you get older.”
The conversation continued for a few more exchanges but you get the gist. Classification continues to be tricky for James and because he is sooooo black and white it can lead to interesting and colorful conversations.
Toddlers spend a lot of time figuring out classification. They find out that all cows have four legs. So all animals with four legs must be cows. Until they get more experiences and they find out about horses, giraffes, elephants, cats, dogs, goats, sheep etc... and don't forget the duck billed platypus. It has four legs but the feet and bill of a duck and it lays eggs. It is a never ending conundrum of classifying until everything is in the right pile or black and white logical spot.
Is it popcorn if it is eaten off the cob like corn on the cob?
Classifying Monty Python Style
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