A Field Trip to India, or, Raising a Global Child!

On Monday of this week Couper met me at the door when I got home and tearfully informed me that his class was going on a fieldtrip, but he didn’t want to go. He showed me the permission form from the teacher which explained that to celebrate Diwali the kids would be going to Indian food for lunch and then, if they wanted, getting henna paintings on their hands. Since his lovely teacher Ms Lucy is teaching them about festivals and celebrations this month it seemed like a great day and I signed the form, much to his dismay. On Tuesday, he informed me that he still didn’t want to go, though being Couper he had handed in the form! I asked him why he was so scared of a fieldtrip and what fun it is to explore and see other cultures. I tried to ask him why he didn’t want to go, but he wasn’t able to articulate it and I assumed that he just was being Couper…slightly stubborn and adverse to change. Tuesday night he couldn’t go to sleep and I felt so bad I said I would go with him on the fieldtrip, in my heart I knew he would enjoy the trip and I thought he was just scared and maybe if I went he would see how silly he was being. Of course on Wednesday morning I remembered the meeting I had and sadly told Couper that I couldn’t go after all, and fairly enough he fell apart. Finally, truly annoyed, I said, “Couper, what is the big deal, why won’t you go on this silly trip.”

“Because it’s just so faww,” he answered.

So far? I couldn’t understand what he was talking about. I explained that the restaurant was next to the old market and it would only take about five minutes to get there. After thinking for a minute he said, “but mommy, India is past Thailand, and it takes us all day to get to Thailand.”

That’s when it hit me, my poor, literal, well-traveled little boy, thought the fieldtrip was to India!

In my head I could hear Ms Lucy explaining to her class that they were going to see an Indian Festival and wouldn’t that be great and Couper, knowing where India was, went into panic mode. Now if I had never sent my kid away on a long trip by himself maybe he would not have assumed I would ever in my right mind send him to India…but just last summer he went for a week to Washington DC with just his Grandma. And maybe if he had never been on a plane, or never had a passport, or not been to the 10 countries he’s been to in his four years, he would have doubted his teacher, but being a global child, Couper has been all over the world. Born in Bangkok, raised in Cambodia, summers in the US and more stamps in his passport than most adult Americans, my little boy believed that he and his class were getting on a plane and heading to India and he wasn’t thrilled about the idea!

As soon as I explained to Couper that they were only going to an Indian restaurant and that it was next to Pizza Company, his favorite restaurant, I could see all the tension leave his little body and he headed out to get ready for school. I feel terrible that he went all that time thinking he was heading to another nation on Wednesday, but I am also proud that 1. he knew where India was on a map and 2. that as soon as I said I was going, he was all for it!

Of course Callie wandered into the room after and I explained the misunderstanding. “Wait,” she said, “can I go to India?!”