Important Life Facts

As an adult, you forget how much there is to learn about the world, how much knowledge you think is inherent, but in actuality you had to learn it somewhere along the way.

I always try to keep from being one of those parents who says, "No, honey, you can't be a truck when you grow up," because I don't want to be the one to stifle their imaginations or tell them anything is impossible. Let the outside world take care of that. Besides, who knows? Maybe someday the technology will be there, and I don't want some truck-man coming home for Christmas and rubbing it in my face.

But sometimes you just have to be straight with them and give them a solid dose of reality. My three year old daughter is full of questions about the world and what is real. The other night she looked over at her massive assortment of dolls and asked me, "Will my babies ever become real?"

"No, honey, they won't," I told her. "They will always be toys."

She was a little disappointed, but I saw the wheels turning. Important Life Fact: Despite numerous stories to the contrary, toys do not come to life.

"Well, I want a real baby," she said.

"Okay," I replied. "Someday when you grow up you can have a real baby of your own."

And then I got one of those lumps in my throat. The kind I never used to get, before I became a mom. I guess my daughter is not the only one still learning about what's real.

Important Life Fact: Sweet little baby girls quickly turn into critically thinking, talkative preschoolers. And from what I've heard, before you know it they turn into adults, and maybe really do have a real baby of their own.