When I grow up I want to be an astronaut or a race car driver. When I grow up I want to do something that makes lots of money, but it needs to be one of those jobs where I don’t need to do much. When I grow up I want to do something important and worth while, something that makes a difference and contributes to making things good for everyone. I never really had plans to be head bum wiper or expert mum shouter. Funny how them things turn out.
The first born has wanted to be a police officer, expert of all things Titanic related and a volcanologist. Although he never wants to leave home and he decided recently that university is out unless I can drive him there and pick him up. Sometimes I wink at the husband as I jokingly tell him the girl will be an exotic dancer with the bum moves she busts and the little one will probably end up as head crisp eater somewhere. But that’s OK, as long as they are happy (and make enough money to take care of the old folks).
However, that all changed today when the first born gave me the most motivational speech I’ve heard since I last managed to watch a film all the way to the end. He was clear in his opinions. He gave sound direction. He backed up his claims and at the end I knew exactly what he wanted me to do. He’s 7.
Recently, he’s decided that one day he would like to be Prime Minister. Initially, he decided this because he believes being Prime Minister will make him the richest man in the world. Before I was able to give him the lobbed sided one eye half closed ‘really?’ look, he explained that when he was the richest man in the world he would be able to buy his old Mum a house with a swimming pool and his Dad one with enough room for a railway layout. I then obviously took some time to explain to him about expenses and all that sort of political stuff and he decided I could just live with him in his house. Not sure about his Dad, he didn’t mention him at this point.
Over this past week he’s started to take more interest in the Government daily announcements and he’s started to ask questions. Questions, such as ‘why do the Government take everyone’s money?’. Obviously we blame the Government whenever we refuse to purchase some overpriced shit the kids want. This helps to explain why he can’t have an X box in his room when he’s only 7, or why I am not prepared to spend £40 on a hoodie or “merch” for some You Tube person, one that he watches on his tablet as said person plays Minecraft. Rather than just playing Minecraft himself.
He asks, ‘how do they know when it’s 8 o clock if they are outside and no one rings a bell?’. Our neighbor has a bell but on TV they just start clapping at the exact right moment. And, ‘why do they keep telling us how amazing the NHS is, didn’t everyone know that already?’ OK that one was mine.
Since his little mind has started ticking over he’s decided to change his reasoning for the whole Prime Minister job thing, although he assures me we will still have a pool. Yesterday, he told me he wants to be the Prime Minister when he is older because he wants to make decisions to help everyone. He said if he was the Prime Minister he would make sure everyone has enough money and food. He said that he would like to be the boss of the country so that he can make sure everyone is happy and so they don’t have to work all the time and they can go camping if they want to. The kid loves to camp.
He then followed me into the kitchen as I made his spaghetti and meatballs (not to be confused with spaghetti hoops, this was all homemade). He explained to me that he’d been doing some thinking. He said that even if everyone doesn’t vote for him to be the Prime Minister and instead everyone voted for the ‘other guy’ (the hypothetical other guy at this stage). As long as the ‘other guy’ is good and does all the stuff he would have done and makes sure everyone is OK, he won’t mind if he’s not the Prime Minister, he’ll still be happy.
My seven year old first born child made me smile, he made me feel proud for his compassion and his ability to make decisions like a true leader. As a future Prime Minister he is an inspiration and he nailed it on the head. He’s learned to put his people first and he’s not even got the job yet.
