The Piggrooms

Nana sent the kids some books about Thanksgiving (they arrived today, thank you!), and so we settled in after bath to read up on the fast approaching holiday. On page three of the first book was a picture of people with muskets. And A, having never seen a gun before, asked "What's that?" So I took a deep breath and launched into "Well, that is a gun, and guns are bad because they hurt people." "Are they shooting at bad guys? Are they KILLING people?" "Well, they are shooting at people they THOUGHT were bad guys. And yes, they killed people."

C proceeded to cover his ears and declare the book too scary. A, of course, continued to question. "But why did the piggrooms think that the people were bad?" "Well, because they were scared." "I get scared, but I don't kill people." "Well, that's a good thing. It's not right to kill people."

C uncovered his ears at this point and jumped in with, "They're killing the Indians, aren't they?" "Um, probably. Perhaps the British, but since we are talking about Thanksgiving, my guess would be the Native Americans." "Why do you call them Native Americans but some people call them Indians?" "Because they used to be called Indians, but really, the Indians live in India, and the Native Americans lived here before the pilgrims came here from England. But they thought that they were in India, at first. But really, they weren't Indians. It's kind of like if people kept calling you John but your name is really C. You wouldn't want to be called John, right?" "I guess..."

A then breaks in with "But the piggrooms. Why were they scared of the Naive Mericans?" "Well, because they sometimes painted their faces, and wore clothes that were different, and the pilgrims were afraid of that." A nods. "Ah. The Naive Mericans liked to play dress up, but the piggrooms didn't. But the piggrooms shouldn't have hurt the Naive Mericans just because they didn't want to play dress up."

"How about we read a Christmas book now?" "Yeah! Let's read the one about the Virgin Mary! Why is she called the Virgin Mary?"

"How about Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel?"