As Political As We Get
The Scene: Medium-sized kitchen in a usually non-political suburban family home. A mother and her two teenage sons are cleaning up after dinner. The sons clear the table as the mother loads the dishwasher. The mother has noticed that this is often the time when out-of-the-blue questions are asked or odd comments are made. Why? she wonders. Are their full stomachs causing their neurons to fire and their synapses to connect? Is it their minimal effort to humor their mother and engage in a family conversation before retiring to their rooms for the night? Or are they just trying to distract themselves from the fact that they are doing a household chore?
Younger son: Who’s that guy nobody likes who made a bunch of money off the Iraq war?
Mother (stalling, not sure where her son is going with this): Umm . . .
Older son: George Bush?
Mother (turns head away, stifles a laugh): Well, I -
Younger son: No, that other guy – Shaney?
Mother: Cheney.
Both sons in unison: Yeah, that guy.
Mother (toning down her amusement): What about him?
Younger son: I saw this thing on one of those comedy shows and this guy who was being him had this horrible, evil laugh.
Mother: Hmm. I never heard that before.
Older son: Well, I think they’re both war profiteers.
Mother: Where did you learn about war profiteering?
Older son: Wikipedia.
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10 Responses to “As Political As We Get”
October 9th, 2009 at 12:28 am
2 smart sons you have there!!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:48 am
What an mature conversation.
I can remember as a child we had some very interesting after meal discussions, it was a time that I felt was good to ask questions and to have my say. Reflecting back I believe it was because my parents actually chilled for 15 minutes and they would really listen.
Isn’t wonderful that your boys are wanting to show you these mature signs. Happy for you Tanya.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:37 am
As I’m learning in my home, television and curious children with access to computers does equal education.
October 9th, 2009 at 6:43 am
I’m not good with those political conversations, I’m all opinion and no fact!
October 9th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I’m like Carrie – all opinion. So I will say this – Cheney does have an evil laugh, to go with his evil sneer and evil glare.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I think it’s GREAT that you’ve found a perfect time to chat with your kids… I found that to happen in the car with Nick… love to hear what they have to say!!
October 9th, 2009 at 9:58 am
This makes me laugh! What cute kids. My son and his AS friend have HUGE political opinions, which are on completely different sides on every issue. Their AS makes them both sure they are right. I shared my thoughts on a issue the other day and one of his friends told me I just went down in my moral standings with him. I laughed and laughed. I love to hear what they think.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
*snort* Love the evil laugh comment. Great conversation!
October 11th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Wikipedia. Between that and Google, we’re all set.
October 14th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I am English, I am ‘neurotypical’ and I am only thirteen but i admire ur son, Nigel is so brave and clever, I even think he looks kind of cute in some of the photos you put on the site! Some of the things he says with his brother, Aiden, are so funny. I sort of envy you to know you have a boy like Nigel as ur son but i understand that if i did have someone like Nigel in my family i probably wouldn’t be saying that. i only stumbled upon this website when i was finding out what autism was. i agree with your post on the 13th October 2009 that schools should raise autism awareness because i had only heard about autism in a movie but i have been checking this website eva since for new posts because it is extremely interesting!!
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