So, after almost four months of really frightening stories from mostly Theo, but Blessing as well, Benjamin mentioned in conversation that he didn't want to ever go to Liberia.
That set off a big defense mechanism in Theo and he proceeded to say that the US was the stupidest country he had ever been in and that he hated it here. (When Theo argues, you have to realize he goes down to about an 7-8 year old mentality.)
I sat him down and explained that Ben loved him and that everything that Ben knows about Liberia has been taught to him by Theo. I repeated to him his comments about beatings, being hungry, being robbed, childhood prostitution, human sacrifice, being forced to do adults jobs for minimal pay, workers stealing the toys that were meant for the children, etc. . . I then added that to a 7 year old like Ben, that that would sound like a scary place.
I suggested that he tell Ben something nice about Liberia. His response: "They have nice people, and supermarkets and people have businesses there." Not exactly a travel brochure. He then decided to tell me that it was all a lie; that none of what he has said in the last 3 1/2 months is true.
Well, I am really not sure how to deal with this. Of course what he has been saying (with the exception of the human sacrifice thing) has been widely reported by more than just my 12 year old. I have always been very careful to focus on the positive of T&B's country of birth. None of these negative views have come from me, but I don't know that going into denial over where he came from is exactly a healthy answer???
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