Creatures

Any activity that takes Elijah away from his Legos is a hard sell these days. Given that my weekdays are primarily spent on a locked psychiatry unit, I find myself practically begging him to go to the park over the weekend. Last Saturday was no exception. It was a beautiful day and Elijah was intent on playing Legos in the livingroom. After hearing that Deborah was going to be at the park, he eventually agreed to go and of course had a wonderful time. On the way home, I asked if he had fun to which he replied, "Yes, but next time I want to stay home and play Legos."
I was thus shocked when he agreed to go to the pool on Sunday. Elijah has never shown interest in the water, he even avoids sprinklers. He wasn't exactly excited to swim, but seemed amenable hitting the playground and "cooling off" in the water. I quickly slathered him in sun screen and scooted him out of the house before he could change his mind. We had fun at the playground and Elijah reluctantly allowed me to carry him in the pool for a whole of of five minutes. Success!

After swimming, Elijah started chatting with a five year old girl at the pool. Within moments they were laughing and chasing each other about. Sweet and innocent until the girl approached her mom to get a pair of flip flops. "Probably needs it to squish something," said the mom. I soon realized that the girl was on a mission to find and squash insects. The mom was clearly unperturbed but I was horrified. I have attempted to instill in Elijah a respect for the natural world. We have made a point to choose books about animals, plants and science. When critters do make there way into the house, we most always capture and release them outside. Elijah has always taken a liking to insects and seeing his willingness to conspire with the girl was unsettling. Given the mom's indifference, chastising both children seemed inappropriate. A moment passed and Elijah ran over to say hello. I quietly told him that killing bugs was mean and unacceptable. Meanwhile, the little girl explained how she planning to "capture more bugs" inside a leaf so that she could kill them. The other mom said nothing and that was my cue to pack up our things. Upon leaving the pool, Elijah and I had a nice conversation about living creatures. When we were done, I asked him what he would do next time he saw kids killing bugs. He said he'd stop them but I suppose we will have to wait and see.