"Today were were talking about Jesus healing the blind man. During the story, Jonathan raises his hand and asks, 'Was that before the time of factories?' I was a little taken aback but told him that yes, Jesus had lived before factories and vehicles, but that this was after the stories of Moses that we'd been talking about in previous weeks.
"A few minutes later, Jonathan raised his hand again and and asked, 'Was that before the Korean War?'"
Apparently our conversation during our grocery trip yesterday made quite an impression. We went to H-Mart yesterday afternoon, the local Korean grocery store, for some produce as well as some marinated meats to take to a BBQ with friends. While we were waiting on the lunch we ordered at one of the in-store restaurants, I pulled up a world map on my phone to remind Jonathan where Korea was, that Daddy had been born there, and that these are foods that originated in Korea.
Typical of his age, one question led to another with a string of How's, Where's, and Why's.... Yes, Halmony and Hariboge were also born in Korea. Well, no, not the same place as Daddy. Because they were born in North Korea. Well, they went down to South Korea, where Daddy was born, because of a war that broke out, and they weren't safe in North Korea. "But why was there a war, Mommy?" Trying to explain why the Korean War happened in terms a 4 year old could relate to proved to be quite a challenge. But it was actually the question that followed that stumped me even further.
"What kind of vehicles did they use during the Korean War, Mommy?" Goodness, where was Daddy? He was in line somewhere ordering another dish.
Ummmm... "Well, I think that the soldiers had tanks, Jonathan, and that they used trains to transport supplies as well as people."
"What other vehicles?" That next question was repeated a good 20+ times. We ended up on Military.Discovery.Com at a page that was subtitled, "Everything you ever wanted to know about weapons and vehicles used in the Korean War." I chuckled and then thought, "Great, at least the questions will stop here." But apparently the author has never had a 4-year-old. We skipped over the guns and looked at photos of each vehicle. And then it came.
"What other vehicles?" SERIOUSLY? Even Military.Discovery.Com considers that to be the extent of what you should need to know. We talked about helicopters and airplanes and ambulances and trains and... David came up with numerous others I couldn't.
"What other vehicles?"
Maybe if I changed the subject...? "Jonathan, some of the fruits and vegetables here aren't grown in Texas. Some of these are the kind that are grown in Korea and are brought here just for us to get to try. They don't have them at Kroger..."
"But, Mommy, what other vehicles did they use in the Korean War?" Goodness, where was our food?!?! Thanks to the iPhone we found another two sites of photos of fighter jets, bombers, and helicopters, and then, thankfully, the food arrived and we had something else to talk about. It's not that he's obsessed with war. It's the first conversation we've really had about war, though he's familiar with soldiers. But a whole genre of vehicles to discuss... how great! David assured him we would take him some-time to Korea, and that before our trip he would learn all about Korean history -- which he told his Sunday School teacher today, after they finished the story about how Jesus healed the blind man back before the Korean War.
1 comment:
Oh my goodness that is so funny and well told :). Thanks for sharing.
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