I was driving the kids some place the other day, when they started talking about what they wanted to be when they grow up. It was the usual assortment of professions: truck driver, fireman, astronaut, architect, and so forth.

After he said “astronaut,” however, C paused for a few moments and then asked “do you think I could, Daddy? Do you think I could be an astronaut?”

Being the good daddy, I reassured him that yes, he could be whatever he wanted to be. It was all up to him.

Hearing this, his little brother raised both arms over his head and announced “I want to be a prince!”

“Hey, me too! Me too! I want to be a prince.”

“Okay,” I laughed. “You’re a prince.”

“No, no, no. I want to be a real prince!”

Now I was stuck. I couldn’t exactly say “Hmm… Yeah, when I said you could be whatever you want? It turns out that wasn’t quite true…”

So I just kept quiet.

Does anyone know of any small countries with extremely small armies? Maybe some place looking for a benevolent dictator who can rule them via e-mail from Central Florida?

My sons would really appreciate any help you can give me.