Cruelty to animals

Oscar and I wander into the bedroom to get him dressed for the day.

He looks stricken and says:

‘Oh dear mama. I have forgotten to turn my bedroom lamp off.’

I say:

‘That’s alright Oscar. You will remember next time.’

To which he replies in anguish:

‘No, but it’s too late now.  I have killed another animal.’

I say soothingly:

‘No. No. I think you have misunderstood what the girls were saying.  It’s alright.’

He shakes his head in woe:

‘No mama. You don’t understand. Tilly says every time you leave your bedroom light on, a polar bear dies.  Now I have killed a polar bear.’

It takes half an hour to reassure him that no polar bears were killed in the turning on of this lamp.

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