What do children know about past lives?

Yesterday my four year old said, "One day I will be 91 and then I will die and then it will be my next life."

It was so out of the blue it was hard not to feel like he was having some sort of prophetic moment. I'm not a big past life person either. I mean, I don't really know what happens after we die, and I don't rule it out, but it's certainly not something he's ever heard me talk about. I'm not sure where the idea came from at all. Unless...

"Do you remember your last life?" I asked him.

He put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment, eyes up in his head, really trying hard to recall. "That's the one where I wore glasses," he finally announced.

Wow. I thought. Wow. He's only four. It could be possible that he really still has a connection to what his soul did in other bodies. I started to feel all mystical. I could hear ethereal music playing at the edges of my mind.

My twelve year old piped in. "Do you remember what your name was?"

"Calvin," he answered. No hesitation.

Unbelievable.

Then my four year old looked at his big sister. "You're name was Malvin." At his big brother, "You're name was Dalvin."

Calvin, Malvin and Dalvin, huh?

I think I just got punked by a four year old.