A legitimate question

We're still doing a modified parenting schedule this week, and it was nice to see Mr W when I picked him up yesterday. When I found him on the playground, he was happily climbing on one of the structures, by himself. I think as an only child (at least until his dad remarried last year) he's gotten good at entertaining himself. I noticed there were a couple of other kids his age around, but he said later that they were the kinds of kids that pick fights and try to blame others. I'd rather hang by myself, too.

As Mr W was getting ready for bed last night, he was doing his usual electron imitation. He's here, then he's there, "did you get your pajamas?" "no", "get a book" "OK". Here and there. My dad used to call my sister and I Wandering Bamboozlers when we did this. I was looking at something on the computer and he asks, "So, I know this is kind of a personal question, but why did you and my dad get divorced?"

This comes up every once in a while, and I always feel like I need to be honest, yet not divulge what isn't really his business at the moment. So I said something to the effect that it was because of problems grownups sometimes have, and that it was important for him to know that the decision to go ahead and get the divorce was a difficult one to make.

I also told him that it's so important to me to make sure he's got two parents that are committed to raising him, but I don't think it's ever even occurred to him that the situation could be otherwise. He takes it for granted. That's a good thing.

But being a kid, and having the attention span of a kid, I was getting ready to launch into more thoughts about his dad and I being there for him and how important that is to us, and he was already talking about something else.