The Age of Aquarius

"When the moon is in the seventh house/ And Jupiter aligns with Mars/ Then peace will guide the planets/ And love will steer the stars." - "Aquarius" by The Fifth Dimension

For my 200th post, I thought I would share a funny conversation I heard in the car on Tuesday when I was driving the kids home from school. Just for a little background information, the seven-year-old tends to get very fixated (a nicer way of saying utterly and completely obsessed) on things, and she has always been fascinated with astronomy - planets, the moon, stars, etc. She was doing some research at school that day and somehow discovered zodiac signs. I don't buy into astrology at all and neither do her parents, so I didn't really know what to say about this topic. So I decided to just sit back and let the kids direct this conversation just to see where it would go. It went to a very different place than I could have ever imagined...

Seven-Year-Old: Guess what? I researched zodiac signs today and I discovered that I am a Scorpio, which means scorpian. Did you know that you are a Libra and the symbol for that sign is scales?

Shannon: Yes, I did know that.

Seven: Too bad you weren't born a couple of weeks later. Then we would have the same sign and it would be totally awesome.

Shannon: That would be really fun if we had the same birthday. What made you think to look up zodiac signs at school?

*My question is ignored completely*

Five-Year-Old: Do September birthdays have a special name too? What am I?

Seven: You are a Virgo.

Five: *Scrunches face up and stares at her sister suspiciously* Virgo? What is that supposed to mean?

Seven: It means virgin.

Five: What does virgin mean?

*Shannon keeps her mouth shut and prays that she won't have to figure out an answer for this one.*

Seven: It means that you are like Mary, Jesus's mommy.

Five: But I don't want to have a baby in a barn by stinky cow poop!

Seven: Well, Jesus was born a long time ago when there weren't many hotels, but now there are tons so you can have your babies in a hotel.

Five: But what if I don't want to have babies in a hotel?

Seven: You have to. You're a virgin.

Yes, boys and girls, that is just a sampling of what I hear every day working as a nanny. After that last statement, I quickly steered the conversation toward a song on the radio (No, it wasn't "Like a Virgin") and no mention of the zodiac or virgins was heard again during the 20 minute car ride home - thank God! I just don't get paid enough to teach the kids about the birds and the bees.