Monday, September 12, 2011

The Most Difficult Subject To Explain To Children - Hot Tubs

I've been on a bit of a home improvement kick lately. It all started when I began to look into buying a house. Once that idea sprang into being I started to dream up ways to improve upon the houses I was viewing. After thinking of some more practical options for improvements it hit me, a hot tub would be fun to have! A few days later I called my sister while on my way to the gym. She couldn't talk so I asked to speak to her kids (Ariana, 6. Kyle Lee* 3). The conversations with them are not that fluid. Kyle Lee tends to go off on tangents which are a bit hard to follow. Especially since when I ask her questions to discern the subject she is speaking about, she will almost always say yes to the question... whether it is correct or not.  This particular conversation turned to hot tubs.

Me: "Hey, do you want a hot tub?"
Ariana: "Mmm... No"
Kyle Lee: (in the background): "We have a tub with hot water"
Me: "Why don't you want a hot tub?"
Ariana: "We have a tub and it can be filled with hot water"
Kyle Lee (in the background): "We don't like baths"
Me: "No, that's not what a hot tub is. Hot tubs are for outside."
Ariana: "We like cold water"
Kyle Lee (in the background): "Cold water!"
Me: "No, you would go into the hot tub when it is cold out."
Ariana & Kyle Lee: "No, we only go swimming when it is hot out. It would be cold otherwise."
Me: "Nope, it would be filled with hot water so you wouldn't be cold."
Ariana: "We have a bath already that we can put hot water into."
Kyle Lee (yelling in the background): "I don't like baths!"

I tried to explain the benefits of a hot tub, the wonderful nights you could have, but all to no avail. It became rather obvious that to children a hot tub is completely useless, a stupid and foolish item. I've talked to Ariana about the philosophy of art and she could kinda grasp the topic and arguments. But attempting to explain to her and Kyle Lee the benefits of a hot tub was by far the most difficult subject I've tried to explain to any children..


*Or as her mother named her, Kylee.

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