Our children understand the concept of familial relationships now. They understand that I have brothers and sisters, like they are brother and sister. They understand who their cousins are and why they are cousins. So we had an interesting moment while eating dinner out when I received photos of Charlotte’s birth siblings from one of my sisters.
Me: Cooper, do you want to see a picture of your cousins, Damien and Mia?
Cooper: Yes!
Charlotte: I want to see too!
Me: Okay, Charlotte you look at daddy’s phone and Cooper can look at mine.
Cooper: Are they Charlotte’s cousins too? (He asks because they seem to think girl cousins are Charlotte’s cousins and boy cousins are his cousins.)
Me: No they are Charlotte’s brother and sister, but they are your cousins.
Cooper: [looks at me, like what??!? how is that possible?]
Me: Their mommy is my sister, Angel.
Cooper: Charlotte’s, um mom?
Me: Yes, Charlotte’s birth mom. Remember when we talked about your Auntie Angel?
Cooper: Yeah, Charlotte grew in her tummy and I grew in your tummy!
Me: Yes that’s right.
Cooper: Can I play on your phone now?
_____________________________________________________________________________
And while I was showing Cooper, Chris showed Charlotte.
Chris: Here are Cooper’s cousins and your brother Damien and your sister Mia. Their mommy is your birth mother Angel.
Charlotte: Mommy’s sister? I grew in her tummy right?
Chris: That’s right.
Charlotte: They are Cooper’s cousins? Are they my cousins too?
Chris: They might feel like your cousins because you don’t live with them, but they are your brother and sister. Their mommy is mommy’s sister.
Charlotte: okay.
We’ve showed pictures before and have discussed the relationships quite often, but this seemed to be the first time they picked up on the nuance of cousins vs siblings. They both seemed a little confused, but repeating the facts seemed to simplify it for them. They make it so easy for me when I feel like this should be so complicated.
No comments:
Post a Comment