My 7-year-old recently learned about diaries from a SpongeBob episode where Squidward takes SpongeBob's diary and reads it in public. The show stresses that diaries are for private thoughts and secrets and are not to be read by anyone.
While I was rearranging his room last night, Eli found a food journal I got for free a few years ago. It is full of lined pages with spaces to indicate the contents of your meals. Needless to say, I never used it because I didn't want to see cake, coffee and wine fill up the majority of the pages. At some point I must have given it to Eli, who decided to store it in his bedside table.
Apparently it occurred to him last night that this would make a good diary. I saw him sitting in the corner and occasionally looking up to stress his need for privacy. When he was done writing, there was a moment of indecision: he wanted to share what he had written but knew this was supposed to be a secret book. He chose one person who should have restricted access to the diary: 3-year-old Marina.
Our conversation went something like this:
Eli: Mom, this is my diary. It is a secret. No one can read this.
Me: Ok.
Eli: No one! Especially not Marina.
Me: Ok. You do realize Marina cannot read, right?
Eli: Marina cannot read THIS diary.
Me: Ok. [Grunt] (I'm moving a dresser across the room.)
Eli: [Pause] I'm going to tell you what this says, but you can't tell Marina.
Me: Ok. (Turning to look at Marina who is sitting two feet away.)
Eli: Dear diary, one time I farted in class but nobody knew it was me who did it. Mom gets farts when she eats her expensive cereal.
(Explanation: Kashi Go Lean Crunch = Expensive cereal. Added flax seed and extra fiber. Tastes remarkably like cardboard.)
Me: Well, now. I guess that's a good start on the diary. Wise move to put that entry in the "Breakfast" space.
Eli: Don't tell Marina.
Me: Ok.
So there you have it. Perhaps Eli won't mind that I'm sharing his diary entry with the general populous... just as long as I don't let Marina read it.
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