Ok, so, everyone has an intelligent kid. Everyone thinks their kid is super smart, maybe more so than other kids.
We all do it.
At some point.
The thing is, how in God’s name do you deal with it when, not only are they smart, but they know how to use their intelligence to argue a point? And make VALID arguments?
And even more so, how the HELL do you deal with it in the case of a 4 year old?
Noah is getting too smart, for me to handle. I know kids do the whole “why” thing, and want to know stuff. I have never known a kid do the “why” thing, want to know stuff, and then throw it back at you three weeks later when you thought the conversation was long gone.
It’s not big things. Not yet. Just little things. But he’s able to argue, and even though I have reasonable status in the Fine Art of Negotiation, he is able to negotiate around negotiating, and most usually, leaving myself and D asking “how the fuck did he even know half that stuff?”
I wouldn’t mind so much if we were teaching him to be so clued up. I don’t want a clued up kid! *flails and wrings hands* I don’t know how to handle a 4 year old who can hold a conversation like 14 year old!
Of course, it’s great that he’s a switched on as he is. It’s lovely! People talk to him and he holds a valid conversation, they ask me how old he is, I say “4 and a bit”, they look at me like I’m lying, wash, rinse, repeat.
It’s a laugh. Mostly.
But not when it bites you on the ass.
You know that whole “you are a child, and I am the adult, and you are supposed to do as I say because I am in charge” thing, usually reserved for a 6, maybe 7 year old? Yeah We’ve been having that conversation for a few months already. It’s very, very unsettling. I don’t like having that conversation. Because I’m pretty sure that, soon enough, he will therefore be able to argue his way around that too.
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW.
But he seems good at it so far.
(Make it stop. And/or send help.)
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Child can't talk with masking tape around his mouth, while trying to negotiate his way out of a deep dark cellar. (I may be joking.)
*her child. Oy. Kill me now.
I feel your pain! If you work out a solution, please let me know!
I remember very clearly one particular conversation with my DS, then aged four-ish, on the way back from the supermarket.
'Can we go home the fast way?' (Actually the longer way, but on a faster road, so he thought it was quicker).
'Not today.'
'Why not?'
'Because there are lots of speed bumps that way.'
'So?'
'I don't like speed bumps.'
'Why not?'
'We've just been shopping. We might break the eggs.'
'So we can't go that way because we might break the eggs?'
'That's what I said.'
'But we didn't *buy* eggs, did we, Mummy?'
Silence…
The Boy is destined for a career in law. His teacher agrees. Such pedantry in one so young…
They really can floor you sometimes with what they come out with. Each of mine get more cunning than the one before. The youngest is a devious minx.
I had the same problem with my 7 year old when she was 4 too. And I'm still trying to deal with it…. Sometimes, I just say, "End of discussion. I put my foot down!" She knows to stop yapping. Hahaha.