Just when you think they aren't listening...

I was reminded of a funny memory this evening when at dinner, Caroliner requested Root Beer to drink. 

Jack was in first grade at the time, and we had gone to the church daycare to pick up Caroline.  As was our ritual at the time, each child got a soft drink from the Coke machine at the church.  I gave Jack and Caroline fifty cents each, and allowed them the opportunity to get their own soft drink from the machine.  Caroline was so independent, wanting to do exactly the same thing as her brother, that she never asked for help with the drink selection.  However, being the diva that she was (and still is sort of) she promptly handed me the can to carry to the car. 

When we got to the car, I put her soft drink in the drink holder and started to belt her into her car seat.  Jack climbed into the car and as he was getting into his car seat I heard a gasp followed by, "MOM!!!!! How could you let her get that?!!!!"  Confused, I looked around at Caroline to see what it was so offensive.  Not seeing anything, I looked at Jack and asked him what on earth he was talking about. 

His response was, "You got her a BEER!"  Baffled yet again, I looked around and saw that her choice of beverage was a Root Beer and trying hard to suppress a giggle, I explained that Root Beer was not alcoholic so Caroline was in no danger. That's when I had to go into an explanation of how Root Beer is made and it took quite a bit of explaining to convince him that she was in no danger of becoming addicted to Beer.  Turns out the counselor at school had talked to the kids about what drugs were and what kinds of thing were considered drugs.  After all, it was Red Ribbon Week.