Bring your kid to work day

Yesterday, April 25th, was 'bring your kid to work day' and, thankfully, my employer happens to be forward thinking enough to support it.  

Lily spent the whole day at the office.    There were organized activities for two hours in the morning, and for another 2 hours in the afternoon.   The rest of the day was with me, and made for the best day at work that I can remember.    It was also very clear that she loved it - even asking if she could come with me today.

The best memory and memento came when she was practicing her writing at my desk.   She wrote 'I LOVE TAM' on a piece of paper, using the name she was hearing everyone call me.   I helped her correct the spelling, gave a reminder that it would be disrespectful for her to call me that, and immediately pinned the note to my wall.  

Speaking of the dead

I don't have the first clue how to explain death to a 4 year old.   What little knowledge I have on the topic has come from experience, and that doesn't fit nicely into a bedtime story.

In a conversation about why people stay at hospitals, I told the story of my tonsillectomy.   It was at age five, and it seemed like something she could relate to.    Then she blindsided me with questions about my parents.  She asked if 'grandma and grandpa' (the set she knows) were my parents.    I told her, no, and that she's never met them - sidestepping the reason why. 

She said 'show me a picture of them.....show me picture of them on your phone'.    My brain froze up processing the fact that my parents were effectively gone before smartphones and Facebook.   I did have a picture - posted about 2 years ago on this blog, where I feared about this very situation.

She likely has some understanding of death.    My sidestepping either confused her more about the topic, or created some other misunderstanding, which may well be worse. 

I will explain this to the best of my abilities, once I figure out the words.