**Conversations with children**

Children talk a lot, but adults do not always listen to what they say. Yet when they do trouble to listen, they often hear some startlingly vivid uses of language. The child's mind lives in timeless present, uncluttered by experience. Perhaps that is why we remember best the things which happened early in our lives.
Adam have you a long pole?
Daddy no sorry
Adam or a ladder?
Daddy what do you want it for?
Adam I want to knock down the sun and beak it into two an give mummy to cook and we'll eat it.
Daddy but what will we do without the sun in the sky?
Adam I don't like it
Dadd what's wrong with it?
Adam its boring
Daddy but the sun. I'm fond of the sun
Adam I'll get another
Daddy how?
Adam I'll buy one
Daddy where?
Adam in Lagos
Daddy I'm glad I haven't got a ladder to reach the sun if that's what you would do with it
Adam O daddy. (Pause)
Haven't you got one I could stand on tiptoe on top of, and poke it out with a stick?
Hmmmmmmm! Children could be funny. To converse with children demands patience, understanding and tolerance.
I love kids. Do you?