Today at lunch, the lass said to me:
Dad, you didn’t let me have my snack… a long time ago.
Until she offered the qualifier “a long time ago” I was giving her one of those looks that read “I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.” After the qualifier, my look changed to…
WTF?
Where do they come up with this stuff? I mean, sure at some point in the past I’m sure I DID keep her from having a snack. But what time was she talking about? It was clear that she had a particular experience in mind. Why that moment? Why now, at lunch when she was eating food I’d prepared for her? Is she angling for something here?
More generally, both kids do this to me and the Wife. Out of the blue, we didn’t do something for them, or didn’t let them have something, of didn’t give them something, or didn’t … something. It’s like a calculated brain fart, or something.
I suppose it’s part and parcel with asking questions and their trying to understand the dizzying reasoning the Wife and I apply when deciding what to do with them. Most of the time I just come up with a generic answer like, “Well, I’m sure I had a reason.” Which isn’t particularly satisfying, but when caught flat-footed with some past transgression long forgotten, what else do I do?