Paradigm Gap

At an interview:

Mother: How do you keep the toddlers apart from the babies?

Me: I don’t.

Very pregnant pause.

Mum had worked in daycares prior to her maternity leave. In daycare centres, the infants and toddlers are kept separate for the infants’ protection. Since I run a daycare, she reasoned, I, too, should keep the toddlers separate. I explained that this is a home daycare, and that therefore it’s organized more like a family. My explanation was met with stony silence.

I knew these people weren’t going to decide to leave their child with me. I knew I didn’t want them, anyway. So I damned the torpedoes and got a little pointed with them.

“Do you plan on having more children?”

“Yes.”

“And when will you have your next?”

“When Jr. is about two and a half or three.”

“I see. And how will you keep them apart?”

An even more pregnant pause. The interview ended shortly thereafter. I did not hear from them again.

Phew.

Ba-dum-pum

Harry: Zach! Zach! Zach!
Zach busily preoccupied with an ah-pane, doesn’t respond.
Harry: Mary, Zach doesn’t talk.
Mary: Oh yes, he does, Harry. Zach can say a lot of things.
Harry: He doesn’t talk like me!
George: Harry, nobody talks as much as you!