I don't know about other families, how they experience 'bedtime' but for some reason, in our house, once the lights go out, philosophy begins.
Last night, just when I thought the boys were falling asleep, Xander asked 'What happens in Wuthering Heights?' I answered, 'Well, Wuthering Heights is a Gothic Novel about the behavior of some not very nice people.' 'What is a *Gothic* Novel?' (Bet you saw that one coming!) 'Gothic Novels were novels usually set in a castle -- most probably somewhere in Great Britain -- and that castle and its people have some sort of dark mystery attached to them.' There was silence as they pondered that then Jason asked 'So... what happens in Wuthering Heights?' We discussed the plot of that novel and I explained a little bit about the Bronte sisters and their novels. Reflecting on this, I commented that, nowadays, I preferred mysteries like 'Aunt Dimity' and 'The Cat who...' and that my favorite mystery was 'The Daughter of Time' -- a novel that took a real, still debated mystery, that of the two missing princes, and had a fictional detective apply 'modern' detection methods.' Xander perked up at the idea of a 'real, unsolved' mystery so I explained a bit about that... and then, philosophy slid into bed with us. The idea of mysteries was interesting but much more interesting to the boys was the question of murder -- could killing ever be considered morally acceptable?
I explained a little bit about the Quakers, who say that violence against another person is NEVER acceptable. Jason agreed with that position but then, after further thought he said 'But what if, by killing a bad person, you would save many, many people? What if it wasn't just self defense?' 'To the Quakers,' I told him,' the answer would be that violence against others, regardless of possible future activities by that person, is never acceptable.' Xander didn't buy that one. 'If someone tried to kill my brother,' he said firmly, 'I would go stop them.' 'That is the natural response.' I agreed. 'I would probably be capable of violence if someone threatened you or your daddy or your grandparents or anyone I love.' There was silence. 'But' I continued, 'if you kill someone, for whatever reason, you have killed that person... and that would be a heavy weight to bear.' Xander, ever
