As I was munching on cashews from a sample table at Costco just before Christmas, the woman passing out the nuts remarked, “My grandson calls these crooked peanuts.” I laughed as I recalled sayings by children in our family over the years that were funny or profound or both.
For example, years ago I took a three-year-old and a five-year-old shopping for a birthday present for an older sister. With a dollar bill at their disposal, I stood aside while they made their selection and handled the sale transaction. I noted that the five-year-old had the dollar bill changed to dimes because, as she said, “I can think better in dimes.”
Those six words have come to represent an entire sermon on “simplification” to our family. All we ever have to say is, “think in dimes,” and we know exactly what needs to be done.
Here’s another family story that teaches us that once a problem has been specifically identified, effort can zero in on the solution. Nancy, at age six, still had not learned to talk completely plainly. She had been in speech therapy for several months when she burst through the door one day after her speech class and exclaimed, “My speech teacher says I have only one more “yetter to yearn.” We knew where to focus our efforts; she would soon be speaking clearly.
As a family we were enjoying a vacation at Aspen Grove in Provo Canyon in Utah. Just as we settled for the night in our cabin, three-year-old Gregory complained of being thirsty. We had consumed our water supply, so we explained to him that it was pitch black outside and water was far away down a rocky mountain path. Still he insisted on having some water. Someone even mentioned bears, but Gregory wasn’t in the least daunted as he continued to demand water. Finally, Spencer, already wise at almost five, solved the problem by telling him, “Just make a bubble and then swallow it.”
When Hank and I returned from one of our missions, a three-year-old grandson, Tanner, who was not yet totally comfortable around us, called me Grandma and referred to Hank as the “Daddy Grandma.”
These “quotables” from our children are not unique to our family, every family has its own list of wit and wisdom provided by their children. My purpose in bringing this up is two-fold. One, make sure yours are recorded before they become forgotten; and two, February can be an ideal month for projects such as up-dating your family records.
For specific suggestions about record keeping, refer to a previous column titled, “Make This a Record Year.” It can be found under “free articles” on my website, www.theartofhomemaking.com.
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Daryl Hoole, mother of eight, is a best-selling author and popular lecturer on home management. Now retired, she enjoys free lance writing. She is answering questions from readers who contact her at ask@theartofhomemaking. Her “At Home” column appears every four weeks on Mondays on Meridian Magazine. This information is also available on her personal website at www.theartofhomemaking.com .
