Little Worriers

I've decided that Sparky and I tend to breed little worriers. When our kids hit four or five, they tend to start obsessing over something that they won't have to deal with for decades. When Thing 1 was younger, he wanted to know how to get a job. I told him if he helped clean the windows, I'd give him a dollar, but he said no, he was talking about a real job, like Dad's. I asked him why he wanted to know, and he looked at me like I was an idiot. He said, "Someday I'm going to be married and have kids, and I'm going to need to have a job so we can have some money. So how do I get a job?" He was genuinely concerned about this, and he was around five years old. He wouldn't let it go until I mapped out for him the whole high school - college - grad school - job interview thing, and then he finally started breathing again. Poor stressed out baby.

With Thing 2, it was leaving home. He kept saying he was going to live with us for the rest of his life, that he was never moving out. The funny thing was, he would usually say it when he was acting up or doing something to bother me, and I'd say under my breath, "You wanna bet?" He was really worried for a solid year about growing up and moving away, and then all of a sudden, he started wanting to sing "I hope they call me on a mission" every family night and started talking about going to BYU someday (like I said before, his brainwashing is officially complete!). Sparky and I breathed a sigh of relief when Thing 2 grew out of his worry phase.

So I've been wondering lately what Thing 3 is going to worry about, and I think that I stumbled upon it this week. He's worried that when he grows up and moves away, he won't be able to find our house again. He's been begging me to promise that we'll never move to another house. He asked me if, when he grows up, I would come pick him up from his new house and drive him to our house when he wants to visit. I pointed out that he would probably have his own car by then, but he insisted that he wouldn't remember where our house is, and I should just drive him in my car. He happened to have a friend with him when he said all this to me, and his friend said to him in exasperation, "Come on! We're not grown-ups! You can't even drive yet!" Thing 3 can't help it; he's just like his brothers. I should probably be concerned about my kids getting so stressed out, but it's just so cute to see a little four year old worrying about something that's 15 years away. I guess what I'm trying to say is, my kids are weird but cute.