Getting Married at 9 - Similar to Getting Married at 4? Ridiculous, right?

This post is inspired by the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club choice, I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. It tells the story of Nujood Ali's childhood marriage to a man three times her age, and her courage in becoming the first child bride in Yemen to win a divorce. . .she went on to become a Glamour Woman of the Year in 2008. I received a copy of the book as a participant in the book club.

The saga of Li'l Boo and his preschool girlfriend continues . . .

At dinner last night we were talking about this being Li'l Boo's last week of preschool this year. I told him that the bigger kids in his class were going on to kindergarten, and he would stay with his teacher and a couple of the other younger kids next year. I let him know that his "girlfriend" wouldn't be in his class next year. Li'l Boo surprised us by saying that he'll see her when they get married. It appears that they already have their wedding all planned out. Here's what he told us:

• He said he's going to wear a "handsome suit" when he marries A. He told us that he needs to get a new suit because his old suit was for when he was three years old, and now he's four and a half.
• That she'll need a new dress that has white sleeves . . .not the blue dress with white polka dots and green bow that she wore to school last week, but a new dress. (I distinctly remember A. wearing this to school last week and laughed at his sharp  memory.)
• There will be a party with games and kites like a kite festival.
• A. will have a tent with butterflies ...and unicorns...and ladybugs.
• He's going to have a dinosaur tent for the boys...and their tents would be connected so they could play together.
• There's going to be disco music (I have no idea where he's ever heard of disco music), and he told us we could dance if we wanted.
• They're going to get married at the church by his school. (Which is funny because that is A's family's church.)
• They're going to ask all of their friends and his teachers to the wedding, including A's brother. A's brother will know when to sit and stand in the church, he says.
• There will be computers so people can blog - like me. (c2cdad really laughed at this one.)

I asked how he knew all of this, and he said from when he married "that girl" at his aunt and uncle's wedding. It took me a moment, but I realized that "that girl" was the cute flower girl in my sister's wedding when he was the ringbearer. She's a friend of our family and they held hands up and down the aisle together. He recently flipped through the wedding photo album with pictures of him and her together, and them hugging at the wedding reception. I explained to him that he didn't "marry" her. . .;-)

c2cDad and I chuckled through this whole dinner conversation. I mean, it's adorably ridiculous, right? Hearing a kid share his naive view on marriage and him talk of getting married is amusing, because kids getting married isn't something that happens in our culture (Unlike the tragedy Nujood endured in her country, which makes it a serious issue and NOT amusing.)

So this conversation is something I'm documenting here for when Li'l Boo and A. grow older. It may be fun to look back on this and compare how things turn out for the two of them once they enjoy their childhoods and discover themselves and begin to chart their own courses. Who knows? . . .

Comments

[Cheryl]

I love little kids' wedding plans! My kindergartner has a list of ALL the girls he'll marry, and if pressed, he will rank them in order of importance.

[Holly Annen]

that is handsdown the most precious "wedding story"....I love the "tents" ha ha ha

[kara-noel]

I had a preschool boyfriend and he told me he was going to get me a jeep and a bunny rabbit! Still waiting...