They want a pony.

I was driving the 2 little darlings up to school this morning, when Grace spotted some new horses in one of the paddocks.

Grace:  "Look Mum, those horses are so beauuutiful!  I love horses as they are so kind and lovely.  Everyone must love horses"

Xavier: "I like horses, but ponies are better.  I want a pony.  Can we have a pony Mum"

Me: "Ponies need lots of room Xav, and our yard wouldn't be big enough for them"

Xavier: "Well, why don't we just get a bigger house then?  One with lots of room and THEN we can have a pony.  Muuuuummmmmm......CAN we have a pony?  I really like ponies."

Grace: "Yeah, that's a good idea Xav, we'll just get a HHHUUUGGGEEEE house, with a big paddock and we can maybe have a pony AND a horse.  "

Me: "Well, it costs a lot more to have a bigger house and paddocks for horses.  Mummy would have to go back to work all the time, and Daddy would have to work longer hours.  Then the kids would have to be in childcare EVERY day - for a really long time. " 

Grace: "That's ok.  We'd have SO much fun every day if we were at childcare.  We could do so many things, AND have a horse."

Me: "Right.  So you'd prefer to NOT spend lots of time with Mummy and Daddy, just so you could have a pony/horse?  Imagine every day not seeing Mummy or Daddy from early in the morning until dinner time at night.  That's a really long time.  Plus, Mummy and Daddy would really miss seeing you both."

Xavier: "But I'd really love a pony.  I don't mind not seeing you or Daddy.  You could have fun at work all the time and me and Grace could be at school all day.  I really like ponies. I WANT A PONY!!!" 

So, it seems they don't really give 2 hoots about our efforts to have 1 parent with them most of the time. 

It's a shame I'm only finding out about this now, I could put Grace in full time childcare and started my degree 4 year and 10 months ago.....