Our family has been listening to Beatles songs a lot lately.  The “Backyardigans Meet the Beetles” special on Noggin kicked off the topic. 

I explained to the kids who the Beatles were, and we started listening to some of their songs.  “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da,” “We Can Work It Out,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and others turn out to be sing-along crowd pleasers for both grown-ups and the preschool set.

We had just finished listening to “Can’t Buy Me Love,” which the kids know is my favorite Beatles tune, on the way to school this morning.  As the next song started up, Colin piped up from the back of the van.

“Mommy, you know, there’s one thing in the world that money can’t buy.”

My husband and I looked at each other.  These are the great moments in parenting, when your child absorbs a moral lesson and you can practically see him growing up before your eyes.  Colin had heard the words, he processed them internally, and now he was ready to discuss them.

“What is the one thing that money can’t buy, sweetheart?” I asked.

We waited for the poignant words, a universal truth seen through the eyes of a child.

“Windows,” Colin announced confidently.  “You can’t buy windows, because they’re already attached when you buy the car or the boat.”

And there you have it.

Sounds like we need to listen to a few more songs.  And maybe we’ll wait awhile before introducing the Beatles songs from the later years.  If he’s getting windows out of love songs, Lord knows what he’ll take from “Octopus’s Garden” and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”