Day 26: Stupid Questions

Of my three children, the middle one asked questions all the time.  When he was in fourth grade, Jerry was deployed to Iraq. I no longer had the luxury to send him to his dad.  He didn’t have the luxury to ask the more patient parent all his questions. Finally one day, I just couldn’t take it any longer.  He and I sat down and discussed questions. I wanted him to learn to be observant and find the answer on his own questions. I told him he had five questions a day, no more.  A day or two later, he came into the kitchen. Tomato sauce, hamburger, and spices were simmering on the back burner. A big pot of water was boiling. I was putting angel hair pasta in the pot. 

“What’s for dinner?” he
asked as he walked through the kitchen.

“Clay, do you really
want to use a question up for that?  Look!
What does it look like dinner is?”

“Oh, spaghetti.”

I never told him it was
a stupid question.  But, he caught the
hint. He also learned to be more observant. The questions didn’t stop, but they became a lot less. Being a single
parent became a little more tolerable.  Best
of all, we both made it through the deployment!