My children are nosy, they cannot keep their beaks out of anything, no matter how little it concerns them. It is a very irritating trait as it renders private conversations impossible. It also means one ends up explaining far too many tricky concepts to them, often to their detriment.
The problem is that they overhear a snippet of chat and badger you mercilessly to explain the exact context. I have repeatedly tried to tell them, in increasingly infuriated tones, that if I wasn't addressing them personally it is none of their business, but this just floats over their heads like so much hot air. It's amazing how such painfully observant little people can become selectively obtuse when it suits them.
Take this morning. I made a brief reference to my husband about an incredibly sad story a friend told me last night. I suppose I should have known better than to say anything in front of my pair of inquisitors, but I never learn.
Initially I tried to deflect them, but that's a bit like trying to stop an inferno with a water pistol. Then I explained that they really didn't want to know what I had been talking about as I knew it would upset them, but they refused to take my word for it.
They took turns for the entire school run to try to break me. If they had had a naked light bulb and a pair of pliers I think I would be without fingernails by now. Under intense pressure I cracked and told them an abridged version of the story. At the end both said in unison: 'Now we feel really sad. Why did you tell us?' You just can't win.
I have 1 boy like that and although he's now 10 I still find myself speaking in code! He also has a nasty trick of being super quiet so he can hear what your saying from a distance and then asks you about it later when you are unsuspecting. Yet why is it his selective hearing switches of when I say 'homework' or 'bedtime'?? My older boy though is complete opposite and even if a bomb when off he wouldn't question what the noise was!! Not sure which is better.
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