Mommies go to school, Daddies go to work

Abel and Dina LOVE riding the bus.  Everybody else hates it, but they can't get enough.  About two years ago, we literally got on the bus just to ride it down the street and then back from the daycare after I picked them up.  When we were walking to one of the bus stops, we saw a boy that looked to be between 7 and 9 years old waiting for the bus on his own.  As we got closer, Abel asked me why the boy was by himself.  I said "Well maybe his mom is working" to which he replied "No, maybe his dad is working and his mommy is in school."

Abel about two years ago

Abel was just over three years old back then so his assumption that all mommies go to school and all daddies work was just what he had seen in the world back then.  I was a student when he was born and I'm still a student.  When he was born, Rudy would go to work every morning and he still does.  Due to his increasing circle, Abel now knows that not all mommies go to school and that sometimes even daddies go to school.  Nevertheless, this sort of generalization came up again some time later.

The Academic Advancement Program at UCLA has a freshman and transfer summer program (F/TSP) which serves as a bridge to help students transition from high school or community college to the quarter system.  During the program, those students who commute get a number of meal vouchers to use at the dining halls.  When I did F/TSP I used to save my vouchers so that Rudy and I could have dinner with the kids at the dining halls.  The next summer, I was able to get some from a friend that worked in the program.  Consequently, the only times that Abel and Dina ever went to "my school" was to have dinner.  One day after my second summer at UCLA when I was dropping Abel and Dina off at the daycare Dina asked me what I was going to do after I dropped them off and I told her I was going to go to school.  To which she replied "To go eat?"  I'm usually very slow, but I caught that one right away and I couldn't stop laughing.  Did my kids really think that all I do at school is eat? Too funny.  This past summer that we got meal vouchers we told the kids that we were going to the dining halls, but when we got there they said, "No, this is mommy's school."

Mommy's school

Abel and Dina's idea of Mommy's school