Me: So Alyssa, what did you do at day care today?
Alyssa: Let’s not talk about it at all right now, OK Dad?
This is typical language and vocabulary from my five year old. My main task in the years ahead will be to rein her in until her true maturity catches up a bit with her perceived mental maturity. It’s not an easy task–at times Denise and I both forget a bit that Alyssa’s not much, much older. Parenting is a complex business using a simple compass to point the way.