The Bird and the Laptop

In 2004 when Kathryn was a first grader, her school held a mock election for students to vote for their then choice for US President. The candidates were George Bush and John Kerry. The kids were educated somewhat on what the candidates wanted to do, but they were also shown a picture of each candidate and their family. John Kerry's family included their pet bird.
Later when we were talking about the election, Kathryn told us she voted for John Kerry. This wasn't the candidate that coincided with our choice at the time, and we thought Kathryn would have at least overheard us enough to know that and be young enough to go with our choice. So our first question was "why?!". Her answer was simple and perfect for her first grade self: "he had a bird".

So Melissa came to me the other day and asked if she should start thinking about where she should go to college. I told her yes, that there were colleges that had specific requirements and if she wanted to go to one of them, she'd have to be sure to fit their guidelines. We talked specifically about BYU's standards that she graduate from Seminary and be the kind of person for whom her Bishop could write a positive letter of recommendation. Other schools had community service requirements ~ we had a pretty thorough conversation.
As we talked Melissa asked which college it was that gave people a laptop when they finished. One of the trade schools in our area currently has an ad running where the girl in the ad brags about how she'll get to keep the laptop she's been given to use when she finishes her training. I could hear the wheels in Melissa's head turning as she asked her question: laptops are cool and what did she have to do to get one?

I had to smile at Melissa's reasoning, just as we joke about Kathryn's presidential vote now. Kathryn is far enough removed from her experience to see the humor, even the silliness, in it. There's probably a lesson there somewhere... for sure it's just fun to have conversations like these and to hear the way an 8-year old's mind works.