My kids are wise beyond their years in so many ways. At 5 and 8, they view the world with wonder and creativity. They seem to want the most fantastic explanations to be the true ones, and as such it should have come as no surprise when my kids yelled out “Dad, you’re killing those hot dogs!” on the Fourth of July.
You see, my wife had bought juicy, deli franks. The ones with the sausage like casings. And as the dogs heated up on the grill, they made a little squeaking/hissing sound.
My daughter was in tears, “they’re screaming, Daddy!” she sobbed. And how could i make them stop? Poke a hole in it? Lift them off the flame?
The kids know hot dogs are meat and technically not “dogs” but they don’t understand the whole processed food. And to see them “plump when you cook ‘em” and to make a noise as the pressure burst the casing was just too much.
They obviously didn’t eat any hot dogs (I wonder if they ever will again), but did come back out and join us.
I attempted to explain what they had witnessed by heating a “steam in the bag” vegetable pack in the microwave, but I’m not sure it took.
We’ll see. But one thing’s for sure. We won’t be having hot dogs this weekend.