Things are elephant when tots talk about inflation, and can't wait to leave school

The youngest man of the house summoned me to a meeting recently, to “discuss business.” When nine-year-olds organise business meetings, you know things are elephant.

We sat down and he dived straight into the matter at hand: he said he was considering leaving schooling to become, in his own words, a “content producer.”

I told him I am a content producer -  if producing meat wrappers counts - and I hadn’t left school mid-way. In any case, his kind of content doesn’t involve writing.

It’s about setting people up for a good laugh, usually at the expense of somebody else. It’s a trope his granny is particularly against. Such jokes also pander towards violence.

But now that the lad has seen its business potential, he said he’d garner adequate following, and get paid generously.

And he’d set aside some 50k for me and his mum. Even his sibling and a visiting cousin would get their cut, he added. The rest would go to the bank, until he became of age.

I told him I’d welcome the 50k windfall though I advised against keeping his money in the bank. I was afraid of using the word “interest.” But the lad had his own surprise.

“Is it because of inflation?” he asked. I turned and gave him my full attention. How did he know such a word? He said his friend in school had used it to explain why his parents had postponed buying a gift.

Did he know what inflation means, I pressed. He shook his head. I spent the rest of the time breaking down the concept, and the merits of staying in school, while producing content, and waiting for inflation to dissipate.