Are you smarter than a 6 year old?

Last week I was reading books to my daughters. It was especially enjoyable because my girls are all independent readers now. The days of sitting with a warm, sweet-smelling child nestled on my lap while I read an endless pile of books, struggling not to fall into a comatose sleep and crush them underneath the weight of my body are mostly behind me.

Of the stories we read, my daughter Emily particularly enjoyed Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. In this book, Sylvester loves to collect pebbles and he happens upon a magic one that can make wishes come true. Emily, who is also a lover of rocks and pebbles, was completely taken by the concept of magic, and mentioned it periodically throughout the week.

Friday we were at the barn while Rachel had her riding lesson. Emily trotted up to me with a shiny, unusual pebble and held it out for my inspection. There are a lot of semi-precious stones, such as garnet, that can be readily found near our house, and any time she comes up with something sparkly she brings it to me for identification, hoping for precious gems.

Emily: Mom, what's this?

KathyB!: Oh, that's a magic pebble, Emily! This is very exciting! Do you want me to show you how it works?

Emily: Nodding skeptically. She's been around the block a few times, and she knows how I operate.

KathyB!: I rubbed the pebble furiously between my hands, squeezed my eyes tightly shut, and then wished... for a diet coke.

(Ironic that I'd wish for my child to bring me a diet coke just a week after they'd let one explode all over me less than a week ago, isn't it?)

Emily: Grinning from ear-to-ear she scooted over to the chair where I'd left my drink and ran back. She was loving the game and pleaded for me to make more wishes.

This went on for a short while...

KathyB!: Again, rubbing the pebble eyes tightly shut... I wish that Emily would gather up all of her school work and books and put them in the car since it's almost time to go... I rubbed for an extra long time to give her a chance to clean up, but when I opened my eyes she was sitting still as a statue and hadn't gathered a thing. I looked at her questioningly.

Emily: Mo-ooom. You did it completely wrong that time. You had your head tilted back and it doesn't work that way. You have to do it the way you did it the first time. Here, let me show you. .

(Emily plops down on the ground screws her eyes tightly shut and begins rubbing the rock with gusto. She has the most amazingly smug look on her sweet little face as she makes her wish.)

Emily: I wish mom would pick up all my stuff and put it in the car for me so that I could find more pebbles.

(She opened her eyes grinned at me as though she were the Cheshire cat. )

Holy mother of all booby traps, I stepped right into it. I just got owned by a six year-old. If she can bamboozle me like this at 6, imagine what she'll be able to do at 16.

.

We both had a good laugh as mommy picked up her stuff.