Families and Chicken Heads

I run the afternoon shift of the pre-school carpool. I often take 1-2 additional kids home each day. Although logistically it’s a little difficult sometimes-- gathering the belongings and art projects of three pre-schoolers with Samantha in arm—I have learned a lot about the five-year old psyche. Topics of discussion often range from who brought what in for show-and-tell, indecipherable knock-knock jokes that everyone including Samantha seems to get, who has the greatest number of chicken heads at their house and which “monsters” did the chasing on the playground that day.

Yesterday we had an additional friend in the car. Ella’s friend Oliver came home with us for a play date. We therefore maxed out the number of seats that can be occupied by kids in our 7-passenger van—five kids in the back. After a few token knock-knock jokes, they all giggled at how many kids were in the van. Ella pointed out that if her Dad was sitting in the front with me, then the van would be officially full. At which point the conversation turned towards their families. It turned out to be such a sweet exchange of four kids, interested and accepting of each other’s different family dynamics.

It went something like this:

Aaron: My Dad usually drives our car, but he’s at work. My Mom is at work, too. Katie, you don’t have a Dad, right?

Katie: No, I don’t have a Dad. Just a Mom, silly! (Katie and her sister were adopted by their mom, a single woman).

Aaron: Is your Mom going to pick you up from Ella’s house, Oliver?

Oliver: No, my Dad is picking me up.

Ella: Isn’t your Dad at work?

Oliver: No! My Mom is at work! (Oliver’s Dad is a stay-at-home Dad)

Ella: Oh, my Dad goes to work. But he’s in Idaho right now.

Aaron: That’s cool.

Oliver: My Dad has five chicken heads at our house.

I just thought it was interesting that all four families functioned differently: a child with both parents working, one who is raised by a single, working mom, one whose mom works and dad stays home, and one whose dad works and mom stays home. And it all works. All of them are smart, happy, super kids.