“I can’t believe Analeisa is going to fly to CHINA next year! That’s, like, 24 hours away!” Isabelle declared as she sat the table for dinner.
“You can read a lot of books in that time!” I offered.
“Yeah, but how will they sleep?”
“I’m sure their bodies will ache when they get there,” I said.
*****
“I’d only go to China if I could have a bed on the plane,” Isabelle declared. “Or I wouldn’t go.”
“I could ride my bike to China,” Ari said.
“You can’t ride your bike to China,” Isabelle said.
“Why not?” Ari asked.
“You have to cross the Pacific Ocean,” I replied.
“Well, then I’d swim,” Ari said. (Mind you, this child has only had one swim lesson in his life. It was two days ago.)
“You can’t swim to China!” Isabelle retorted. “It’s too far!”
“And too wavy,” I added.
“Well, I could swim there,” Ari said.
“It would take you, like, a billion days!” Isabelle said.
“If he made it,” I said. “He might get eaten by a shark somewhere in the Pacific.”
“Fine, then I won’t swim to China!” Ari said. “I will fly there!”
“You need to get a bed on the plane,” Isabelle suggested.
“Well, then I guess you’ll have to make a lot of money,” I said. “First-class tickets with bed-like seats cost a lot of money.”
“I have a lot of money,” Ari offered between bites of his chicken and broccoli.
“Oh yeah? How much do you have?” I asked.
“I have a Lincoln,” he said.
“And I have $19 dollars,” Isabelle added.
“So all together, you have $24. I don’t think that’ll buy you a bed to China.”
“I’ve got some change too!” Ari said.
“Pennies, right?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I think you’ll need more like a few thousand dollars for each first-class bed to China.”
Their eyes widened.
“I have money in my tzedakah box too!” Ari said.
“You can’t take money out of your tzedakah box!” Isabelle told him.
“She’s right. That money is for people or animal or organizations that need money. It isn’t for buying beds for plane trips to China.”
Raising Literate Humans 
Magnificent dialogue, Stacy – so lively! I love the way young children think (“I could swim there” after one swimming lesson). Being a child is an act of faith! Your Slice reiterates the great value of conversation, that expanding of horizons we also want to craft in classrooms. Now I cannot help imagining what Lou the Bear MIGHT have to say about this first-class trip to China…
I haven’t seen Lou in a few days. I wonder if he’s attempting a swim to China. 🤣
I once had a bed for a short part of my long journey and it makes it hard to not on every other long haul flight. Those kids of yours have the right idea! But, yeah, way too expensive for me!
I can imagine that having a bed once would make the rest of those long flights hard to bear!
This made me chuckle. What delightful dinner time conversation! I think you have a couple of solvers on your hands.
I should let them tackle a bigger problem next time… and see what they come up with!
Oh, the wide-eyed innocent conversations of children! What a great learning opportunity, too; just think of how their world expanded in just one dinner conversation. A fellow librarian and I were just talking about how geography lessons seem to have gone by the wayside, and how little children seem to be learning about the physical nature of this big, wide world. You’ve got your babies off to a good start in that regard. And now I want to add bed-like seat with a first-class ticket to my bucket list. It might just happen, now that we have in-laws in Japan…
Similarly, I don’t see map skills being taught anymore. I’m totally going to rectify that over the summer. (I might even get the kids trip tiks!)
Your children have wanderlust! I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation as it returned me to my trip to China w/ a group of students and parents and the numerous conversations leading up to the trip. We did not have beds! Have you started planning your trip to China? We’ll be watching for the details. 😉
Definite wanderlust thanks to being cooped up for so long! Isabelle went to my parents’ house last week… first time she left the state since October!
Conversations with children are the very best! They dream big and do not allow the realities of life to dampen their spirits. I could hear the expression in all of your voices as I read. Great use of dialogue. I enjoyed reading this so much!
My kids definitely know how to dream big!
To bike, to fly, to swim – I like how Ari didn’t just give up when the first idea didn’t get everyone’s approval. How fabulous that you were able to record the dialogue in such detail. it was fun to read.
Part of me wanted to grab my phone to do an audio recording while they were talking, but I knew they’d clam up if I did it so I tried to take good mental notes. 😊
I bet the bear knows he gets a bed no matter what!
For sure!
What a perfect and fun interaction. The thoughts of young children are so simple and clear, if only life could be that straightforward and we could just swim to China! Your dialogue retell is so spot on!
Thanks! As I mentioned to Terje (above), I took mental notes as this went on. 🙂