Leaping Leprechauns

Happy St. Patty's Day!

It's March and that means a lot of great things....in no particular order, these include the following: March Madness, Easter (in some years), birthdays for some of my favorite people (including my brother and S.), and St. Patrick's Day!

Apparently, I'm not the only one looking forward to St. Patrick's Day.  My son, S., walked in tonight while I was in the bathroom and I could tell that he had a very heavy question on his mind.  (S. is 8 years old.)  I asked him what the problem was.  This was his response:

"Dad, I'm really concerned that a leprechaun might come and try and take my gold."

It took a second for me to figure out what he was referring to, but then I remembered that R. and S. have been busy collecting rocks, minerals, and scientific elements.  (Yes, really.)  In my zeal to not stifle their intellectual curiosity, I had picked up a couple of vials of scrap gold off of eBay for a couple bucks.  I gave one vial to each of my kids.

S.'s Rock and Mineral Collection

S.'s vial is pictured above.  Two things slowly dawned on me: (1) he was referring to this vial of scrap gold (worth about $2.87 for all you burglars out there--don't bother trying to steal it); and (2) he was serious.

This struck me as one of those parenting moments that you really can't plan for.  I thought it was really cute that S.'s emotion was that he was "concerned" about a leprechaun taking his gold.  I was also kind of glad that at 8 years old my kids still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and leprechauns.

S. has a whole lifetime ahead of him to be worried about adult things.  I hope that he can cling on to his childhood for as long as possible.  Too often, I think, our society forces our kids to grow up too quickly.  I hope that my kids never lose that sense of childhood wonder and awe.  Frankly, I hope I haven't lost it myself.

PS--Don't worry, I reassured S. that I would lock up the gold safely where the leprechaun can't steal it on St. Patrick's Day!  :-)