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I was eating lunch at a Hyde Park café when a mother and her son, about 5-years-old, sat beside me at the counter. Being an undergraduate, my immediate community consists almost entirely of 18 to 22-year-olds; so I welcome the rare occasion to observe young children.

I thought little of them while the mother sorted through her bags, the child quietly eating his cinnamon roll. The remarkable event occurred after a few minutes, when another patron finished reading the café�0�9s copy of the New York Times. The mother took it, and began recounting to her son abridged versions of each article.

[Note: I don�0�9t make a habit of eavesdropping on public conversations, except in the case of children trying to understand the complexities of the modern world.]

�0�6Why is that boy running, mommy?�0�7 pointing at an Afghan boy on the front page.
�0�6He�0�9s excited to be going back to school.�0�7
�0�6Why?�0�7
�0�6Because his school has been closed for a long time.�0�7
�0�6Why?�0�7
�0�6Because there was a war.�0�7
�0�6If my school was closed for a long time, I�0�9d be happy. I wouldn�0�9t be excited to go back.�0�7
�0�7
Another article, about a small-town bank robbery in Kansas:
�0�6Why is that man putting a sign on the door?�0�7
�0�6Robbers took all the money from the bank, and now the man is closing the bank in the afternoons.�0�7
�0�6So the robbers can come in the afternoon?�0�7
�0�6Hopefully not.�0�7
�0�6Why didn�0�9t the robbers just ask for money?�0�7
�0�7
�0�6Look honey, here�0�9s an article about our president, Mr. Bush.�0�7
�0�6We don�0�9t like Bush, right mom? Who was the other guy we were rooting for?�0�7
�0�6Al Gore.�0�7
�0�6They had a race, right mom, and Bush cheated?�0�7
That�0�9s really what he said �0�4 I�0�9m not making that up. I thought how difficult it would be to explain the 2000 presidential elections simply enough for a 5-year-old to understand without being biased.
�0�7
And finally, a picture of starving children in Uganda:
�0�6Why does that boy look sad?�0�7
�0�6Because he doesn�0�9t have a mommy or daddy.�0�7
�0�6Why not?�0�7
�0�6Because his village was destroyed.�0�7
�0�6Why?�0�7
�0�6I don�0�9t know.�0�7 She was avoiding the question. �0�6But we have a lot to be thankful for, right?�0�7
�0�6Yeah, like a house�0�7and toys. I guess we don�0�9t really need toys. Well, maybe just one toy, but not a lot…I�0�9m glad I have toys.�0�7

It struck me as a brave thing for a parent to read the newspaper with her child, being honest with her son while at the same time glossing over the harsher realities, voluntarily confronting her opposing responsibilities as a parent for the sake of him becoming a better adult.

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