My son the walking PSA
A few weeks ago, my son noticed a "no smoking" sign at church (we meet in an elementary school building on Sunday mornings). The kind volunteer in his Sunday school classroom explained the sign to him. Later that day, Micah began asking me about "smokes." At first, I thought he was just talking about smoke in the plural. It was only when he mentioned a sign that I realized he was referring to cigarettes. I think he must have heard the part about "no smoking" and just assumed that what you're not supposed to smoke are called smokes. Makes sense, no?
Well, since then, Micah discusses cigarettes and "no smoking" on a daily basis. When he draws, he draws "no smoking" signs. When we read Curious George, he notices and inquires at length about the pipes and cigars he sees the characters smoking (Thanks, H.A. & Margaret!). He also, as of today, incorporates "no smoking" messages into the children's songs that he sings. For example, "Here we are together, no smoking, no smoking. The more we get together the happier we'll be." He also informed me today on the way home from daycare that he thinks Teddy Roosevelt* must have smoked because he died. I tried to explain the subtle fact that not everyone who dies does so because they smoked, but this only led to an endless series of questions about how else people can die. I am pretty morbid anyway, but explaining all manner of paths to death to my four year old just wasn't what I wanted to talk about in rush hour traffic.
In any case, if you happen to bump into Micah anytime soon, be prepared to be read the riot act on smoking and how if you do it you will die. Can we possibly hope that this attitude will last into his teen years?
*Micah has been watching Night at the Museum regularly this summer, of which Teddy Roosevelt is a key character.
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