Innocence

Today I took my eight year-old daughter to the Geffen Museum of Contemporary Art to see an exhibition by a Japanese Artist named, Murakami. He does Japanese pop art, sculptures, and videos, which are completely intriguing for kids and adults. However, in particular there were two sculptures titled, Milk and Cream. A man and woman, naked holding there private parts, excreting, well…milk and cream. My daughter immediately started laughing, as kids do and said, “Mom, I understand my She’s called milk, but why is He called cream? Shouldn’t he be called Pee, but why is it white?” Well….my heart skipped a beat in a state of slight panic and bewilderment, thinking quickly on my feet, I said, “look over here at this cool painting honey…isn’t this one great….look how cute this is.” However, I could still see my daughters face deep in thought, wonderment, and curiosity trying to solve this riddle of the ‘cream’. As we continued to walk through the exhibition, she asked me several more times about it, and as before, I used the method of distraction. I know my child well enough to know that she is going to ask me about it later and now I am distracted trying to conceive of ways to answer her innocent question.

We then enter the video exhibition and see an animated cartoon in Japanese which is about POO……OH MY. For anyone who knows my daughter, they know she has a fascination with POO and PEE. She laughed louder and harder than anyone did. I thought to myself, well thank goodness, I am probably off the hook now and she will forget about the sculpture. I try never to lie to my child about anything, even the tough questions our innocent little beauties ask. When she asked me if I was Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, I always ask her what she thinks and if she is convinced, I say, “well…. there is your answer honey.” When she asked me how babies are made, I came up with a very expectable answer, which did not involve any graphic details, but was not a lie. I don’t believe in lying to my child because one day she’s going to find out the truth and she’ll never believe a thing I say ever again. This would crush me…so; I do not lie to her. Nevertheless, I am praying she does not ask me about this sculpture, because I still haven’t conjured up an acceptable answer, without lying….

True to form, at the end of the exhibition, she tells me her favorite display was the video about POO……no surprise there…... and….. Milk and Cream. My heart does another leap…Oh please…..don’t ask me. Mind you, I can’t help smiling the entire time, because I can see her innocent mind working overtime trying to figure it out for herself. Then to my utter delight, she says to me, “Mom…I figured out why he’s called cream. He drank her milk and his Pee turned white.” I smiled, and told her how smart she was for figuring that out! I laughed and smiled all the way back to the car and am giggling right now…I got a live one! Glad she figured that out!

http://www.moca.org/murakami/

You can have a look at Milk and Cream for yourself at this website!


Tonight as I lay next to her, I could feel her staring at me, she reached over and took my hand in hers and said, “I love you more than anything in the entire world mommy.” My heart exploded and as we lay there together, I cannot help but think how I am her entire world. I am her everything. What a responsibility I have. To teach her to be her own person, to guide her to find her own beliefs, show her the difference between right and wrong, shield her from hate and sorrow, to show her the beauty in the world, protect her, keep her safe, love her..….and the list could go on all night long….these thoughts fill me with wonderment, joy, fear, doubt and hope… that I do a good job.