Reflections on Presidents' Day

The boys were both very excited to fill me in on some of the things they learned today at school about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

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“Abraham Lincoln was a boy. And, then do you know what happened? (pause) His mother died! He was sad. But then his Dad got married and he had a step mother. Then he was happy. And, then 23 years later, he was a grown up! And then do you know what he did? He became president!” ~ Noah (age 7, first grade)

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Noah: George Washington was in a war. And do you know which team won?

Mom: Which one?

Noah: George Washington’s team! (pause) Oh yeah, Mom — what were the bad guys called?

Mom: Well, the other team were the British.

Noah: Oh yeah…the British (said with a sneer). Hmmm…I stay away from them

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Jack (age 5, kindergarten): There was a king!

Mom (expecting some revolutionary war talk): Really? Who was it?

Jack: It was a great man. His name was Martin Luther King. He had a dream…he had a dream that all people would be nice to each other.

(We then talked about Martin Luther King for a while, but I had to tell him that though he was a great man, he wasn’t a president. Jack said, “Well — he should have been a president!”)

Noah then chirped in, “Martin Luther King had a dream that white people and brown people could all be together. He thought they should all be able to drink from the same drinking fountain. But, then some white people didn’t like that, and they shot him.” (He then about looked like he might cry.) “Mom — why do people shot all the great men?”

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When asked if Abraham Lincoln was in a war, Noah said, “Oh yeah! Some bad men took some big canons, and they shot the United States right in half!”

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“I have bad news, Mom,” Noah started in.

“What’s that, Noah?”

“Some bad man shot Abraham Lincoln and then he died.”

“Oh,” I answered, “that’s really too bad.”

Jack chimed in, “Yes — a man went to a theater and shot him in the back of the head!”

Noah quickly turned to look at Jack, “How did you know that, Jack?”

“I just learned it at school,” he answered.

“Wow, Jack!” Noah said with amazement, “You are getting as smart as me!”