Curly Fries, Too??

Yesterday evening, I went to meet an old friend for dinner and my daughter ate with my parents. When I called to let Tori know I was on the way home, she picked up on the first ring and said, "Mommy??" My stomach twisted just a little. She was with my parents, no one had called me...surely nothing could be seriously wrong? And then she followed up: "Are french fries made of potatoes?"

"Yes," I said, not quite laughing yet. Apparently, there are some gaps in her education, even now that we're home schooling.

"Dude," she said. "What about hashed browns?"

"Yes," I told her, unable to entirely keep a straight voice. "Hashed browns are shredded potatoes."

"Dude," she said again. Then, hopefully, "I'm going to ask dad."

By the time I arrived to pick her up, she'd checked it out with her father by text message and he'd confirmed that the tricky french had in fact passed off potatoes as something called french fries and she'd been eating them without complaint for years.

She chose not to give it too much thought, but apparently it was haunting her. At dinner tonight, she held up a Crispy Crown and said, "So, is this made out of potatoes?" When I confirmed that it was, she said, "No." And then, it seems, continued to stew on the issue. Minutes later, when my mind had turned to other (frankly, more interesting) things, she said with something like resignation, "Curly fries, too?"

Conversations With My Daughter - The Bible

This afternoon I was washing dishes when my daughter came down and sat on the stairs. Our townhouse is split-level, and the stairway runs into the kitchen, so she often sits there to talk to me or play her guitar or pet the dog while I'm in the kitchen. This time, though, she had a purpose.

As soon as she sat down, she said, "Mom, I have a problem with the Bible."

To be honest, I was a tiny bit concerned. I encourage independent thought, but I also tend to take Jesus' word for stuff, so it seemed like a couple of core values were about to hit head on.

"Okay..." I said neutrally, waiting for explanation.

"Well, you know how Herod made everyone go to the place they were from to be counted?"

"Mm hmm..." I'm thinking maybe this isn't so dangerous after all. We all knew Herod was a bad guy, right?

"Well, I don't think Mary and Joseph were from the same place, but they were traveling to the same place to be counted."

I didn't laugh. Instead, I said seriously, "Well, they really only counted the men. If Mary was counted it would have been as part of his family."

"Ah," she said, and then there was a pause. And then she said, "Mom, I have a problem with the Bible."chil