You Shouldn't Date When You're Married

"You shouldn't date another girl when you are married," Francesca exclaimed!  "What did you say?" I calmly replied as Francesca began one of her "Let's give Dad advice and counsel" sessions.

I was flabbergasted when Francesca bolted out that piece of wisdom!  With the Tiger Woods fiasco and the endless stories of heretofore clean cut "sports figures" and "politicians" I could not imagine where on God's green earth Francesca came up with that idea.  Was she watching the endless coverage of the "Tiger" on CNN and Fox?  Was she reading the countless blogs that were covering the Tiger travails?  How about the hundreds of advice columns telling Tiger how to redeem himself?  Fortunately, no to all of those questions.

The answer turned out to be some wisdom that she intuited from watching of all things "Hannah Montana" on the Disney channel.  Francesca explained that Robbie Ray, Hannah Montana's father on the show, was dating a woman.  A flash back in a previous episode showed Hannah's mother giving Hannah advice.  In Francesca's mind there was something odd going on.  On the show, Hannah's mother has passed on.  Not fully realizing this, Francesca made the judgement that what she saw was "not right."

Francesca said, "Daddy you shouldn't date another girl when you are married.  That's not right and not very nice."  "Francesca," I said, "Daddy agrees."

Francesca-isms - "If you don't tell the truth..."

Francesca continues to develop her thoughts about life from her experiences and things she learns in school.  She just had her first friend sleep over at our house and was the adult all the way.  Her friend cried herself to sleep because she was overtired from an evening of trick or treating.  Not Francesca, she sat up and played with her collection of Barbie Dolls. But before she did, "she pat, pat, pat'd" her friend to sleep, ever the caring person.

As we prepared for Halloween, she conveyed these thoughts to us.

• Do your chores.
• Eat all of your food.  If you do, you'll get dessert.
• No talking to strangers.
• No fighting.
• Don't give up.
• If you don't tell the truth, someone will lie to you. 

The latter exclamation is certainly food for thought.

Philosphy from Phrancesca - Connecting

It is a rare moment when I am able to capture some of Francesca's philosophical musings in realtime. I succeeded this time. This one truly is a gem and I am lost to know what was her influence. Clearly she has the fundamentals to be a teacher. This video is amazing. Take a listen to Francesca.

You Gotta Figure it Out

Francesca writes most of her songs on the fly. We are not certain where her inspiration originates. But we do know that she has a great moral compass. Listen up!

Never Give Up

Francesca, ever the optimist, has a message for everyone about everything. Listen up!

Put it higher

Francesca is advancing at the speed of fright. She is deeply into Hannah Montana and her music, loves clothes, adores shoes and covets all of the accoutrements of fashion. She insists on not only dressing herself but she meticulously lays out her clothes on the bed as they would be worn on the body. She is an amazing girl at four years old. She also loves jewelry. This of course includes her Mom's.

I was working the other night and heard a frantic exclamation from Di, "Gerry, I cannot find my engagement ring!!! Have you seen it?" I rushed upstairs from my office to offer assistance. "Sorry Honey, I have no clue. Do you think perhaps your daughter has it?" "Francesca?," I called, "did you see Mommy's ring?" As the minutes passed, we continued to search high and low for the engagement ring. "Di, don't worry we'll find it!"

After some time had passed and I returned to my office, Di called out with great relief, "I found it!!!" It was in a bag in a drawer where Francesca often saves a myriad of "things" that are important to her and her imaginary boss Tapanea. Di and I both decided to have a little chat with Francesca about first asking to play with other people's belongings and returning them to their proper place of residence. We spoke with her about the ring and why it is important to ask first to view it.

Francesca's response to us was quite surprising. With the full confidence of an eighteen year old girl, she said, "Next time put it higher so I cannot get it!"

Private Time

Even four year olds need private time. What was I thinking? Francesca was in our bedroom playing or thinking or something, I cannot image what! I called to her to ask a question to which there was no response at all.

Once again, I beckoned to her, Francesca! Daddy wants to talk with you. Finally, a response. "Daddy the reason I did not answer you is because I want private time. Boys and girls do not look at things the same. Boys have beards and mustaches and boy shoes and boy underwear. Girls have dresses and long hair and girl underwear and girl socks. Sometimes I want private time because I am a girl. I do not want to talk with you, sometimes."