6-year-old: Kerry was totally doing it again at karate tonight.
RegularDad: Doing what?
6-year-old: Touching me. She does that all the time. She just follows me around and touches me. Ugh!
8-year-old: Well, she had a really rough day today, you know.
6-year-old: She did?
8-year-old: Yeah. I heard her mom telling all the other moms that at daycamp today, Kerry’s teacher made everyone practice letters ALL DAY LONG just because one of the parents complained that the kids were playing instead of getting ready for the school year.
6-year-old: No WAY! All day long? Practicing letters?
8-year-old: Well, sometimes they’d take a break and paint for a while, but then they’d have to go back to practicing letters for, like, 8 whole hours.
6-year-old: EIGHT WHOLE HOURS????????
RegularDad: That can’t be right.
Me, from the kitchen: No, she’s got it right. At least that what her mom told us.
8-year-old: Anyway. So maybe that’s why she was touching you. She had a hard day.
6-year-old: Well, I still don’t like it. I tell her again and again, ‘Please stop touching me,’ but she just keeps on doing it.
RegularDad: How old is she?
6-year-old: Four.
RegularDad: Four? Oh, well now, it’s pretty common for someone who’s four to not listen to you when you ask them not to do something. You’ll just have to keep repeating yourself.
6-year-old, from the lofty heights of maturity: Yeah, four is pretty young, I guess.
8-year-old, in a completely genuine tone of cheerful matter-of-factness: That’s really true. You know, when you were four, you didn’t listen at all. In fact… you still don’t.