The question of marriage

"Can men marry men mummy?" asked five year old son yesterday.

Hmmm. Tricky question alert.

"Why do you ask?" I deflected.

"Just because. So can they?"

"It depends on where you live but yes they can, although it's more common for men and women to get married."

"Oh."

"Why? Do think you'd rather marry a man or a woman?"

"A man," he says.

Ok then. He's five and fairly anti girls which might be why ... or not. He has always preferred pink and is a massive Abba fan and did ask for ponies in my pocket for his birthday.

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Dunno," he says kicking a football repeatedly against the kitchen cupboard.

More kicking. I slice vegetables for dinner.

"Mummy, do you have to get married?" he starts up again.

"No, you don't," I say.

"What happens when you get married?" he continues.

"Well you see what mummy and daddy do. We live together. We do the chores. We play with you boys. We go on holidays together. We do stuff together because we're married," I attempt.

"No, I mean when you actually get married, at the wedding," he says.

"Oh right. Well that can happen in lots of different ways. Often it's in a church and the lady wears a pretty dress and the man wears a smart suit. All your friends and family are there. You stand in front of the priest..."

"What's a priest?" he interrupts.

"Like Daniel's dad," I explain.

"He's not a priest, he's a vicar," he informs me.

"Right, same sort of thing really. Anyway, you stand in front of the vicar and you make promises to each other about how you will always love each other and look after each other no matter what. And because you're making these promises in a church, you're making the promise to God too, so it's really important that you don't break the promise. And you wear a ring to remind you of the promises you made," I say sounding far more religious than I actually am.

"Oh..." he contemplates.

A few more kicks of the ball.

"Do you get to choose who you want to marry then?" he asks.

"Yes."

"So God and the vicar don't choose?"

"No."

Silence. More kicking.

"Why are you interested in marriage, is it something you talked about at school?" I ask wondering where this is all coming from.

"Just wondered," he said and sauntered off.

What on earth is going on in that small brain? Is this normal five year old conversation?

Home Office Mum resides in West Berkshire. Take one tired mum. Add two small boys. Mix in one manic home business and one long suffering husband. A simple recipe for chaos. Read all about it at her blog. She is also embarking on the Clipper Around the World Race, you can keep up with her at More to Life Than Laundry.

Photo credit: chicks57

Comments

[Rosie Scribble]

Thank goodness the vicar doesn't decide is all I can say!!!