the perspective of a military family . . . the narcissism of a blog

Citrus reads everything. For the past three months her face has been buried in books and it seems that many of our conversations are about how to spell words or explain their meaning. After our flight to Laos she told me she could spell “Fasten Seat Belt  While Seated” without looking and, when returning from the lavatory, asked me what a sanitary napkin was and why it should not be put in the toilet.

Her day at primary school begins in the assembly hall and the students are instructed to bring a book for silent reading until it is time to begin the national anthem, but a few days ago a guest presenter came to tell jokes and small life lessons. The kids loved him but when I learned that he was going to be selling his books at the school for two days, I was not thrilled.

I have a strong aversion to commercial activities in schools but reminded myself that Singapore is different than America and that the lines between government and corporate activities can often appear blurred. In America many parents are very wary of marketing efforts aimed at children, while in Singapore public-private partnerships are viewed as positive involvement in the community.

I gave her SGD$11 to buy a book that she would be interested in reading and she brought it with us during our neighborhood walk this evening.

Dad, what does castration mean?

I was startled but usually the best approach is to just ask for the context, so I did. She told me that in the joke, a boy was thinking of castrating a cat.

Hm.

It would not help for me to ignore the question or postpone it so I spent a block of walking explaining how cats that are allowed to live outside often have babies, and a lot of them. I explained that even young cats can have babies and that many people feel that it is not good to have lots of unwanted cats, or dogs, around so there is an operation that a veterinarian can do so that the cat will not be able to have kittens.

It seemed like a reasonable explanation.

Well then why does the girl say that she is going to castrate the boy?

Uh.

Time to punt. I told her that I did not know.

Later, I looked up the full joke:

An animal lover passing by saw a naughty kid pointing a knife at a helpless cat.
“What are you doing with that cat?”
“I was thinking of castrating him.”
“Don’t you dare! Whatever you do to that cat I’ll do to you.”
“Well, in that case, I think I’ll just kiss his backside!”

The lesson of this joke was “We can learn from the wit of the boy in which he gave the answer but not from his rude and crafty ways.” It was a bit lost on me though of course now I can look forward to the day where my daughter uses castration in an inappropriate context, like asking someone if they are going to have any siblings or if their parent has been castrated. At least it will be amusing.

By the way, did you hear about the cat that gave birth in a Singapore street?

It got fined for littering.

/p

p

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