That's What Pirates Do

My kids and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful
weather lately and spending a great deal of time in the back yard. I usually open the back door and let the
kids play on the porch while I get some things done in the kitchen. Then I’ll come outside and read the paper
while they play. I do, however, try to
work in some quality time with them. With my multi-tasking mindset it is sometimes difficult to focus on just
the kids so I try to set up the egg timer for at least one hour of quality play
time. During that time I try to let my
son’s imagination lead us in play. This
always makes for some interesting dialogue. Yesterday was no exception. Here’s the conversation we had:

Son: (up on the
swing set “fort”) Come up here
pirate! Swab the decks! Baton down the hatches! Arrgghhh…

Me: Aye aye
Captain!

Son: Do you see
those children playing over there?

Me: Yes.

Son: When they
fall asleep, you need to dress up like an old woman and take all of their toys.

Me: (trying to stay
in character) What sir?

Son: You need to
dress up like an old lady and take all of the toys from those children while
they are asleep.

Me: Why?

Son: Because
that’s what pirates do. They aren’t
nice. They take toys from children.

Me: And why do I
have to dress up like an old lady?

Son: To trick the
children. 

Me: Because old
ladies would never steel toys from children?

Son: Yes.

Me: OK.

This went on for quite some time. I would don my old lady dress, old lady hat, and old lady cane
and walk around our backyard, stealing toys from unsuspecting sleeping
children. When I brought the toys to my
son he would take out his air sword and air-smash them to bits. We all had fun and I received a life lesson
about the inherent wickedness of pirates as well as the inherent goodness of
old ladies.