If you’ve ever wondered where mommy bloggers find material for their blog writing services, you need look no further than those shortish people who occupy the same space. Kids really do say the darndest things and it’s the responsibility of every good blogger mom to record such gems for posterity.
Or at least for a good laugh.
“What’s a Pay Phone?”
My 9-year-old son asked this question from a corner of the couch the other day, where he was safely sandwiched between his 3DS and my Nook. He had an XBox controller in his hands and a look of extreme puzzlement on his face.
“Hunh?” (I’m nothing if not a precise conversationalist.)
“What’s a pay phone?”
It took me a second or two to realize he was serious, but the look of confusion on his face was decidedly real. So, I explained what a pay phone was, or what it used to be — much to his disbelief. I’m pretty sure he couldn’t quite picture it in his head. 9-year-old boys today come equipped with circuit boards and microchips already forming inside their little techy brains and a world without cell phones, texting and Angry Birds just doesn’t compute.
I was going to go a little further and talk about 8-trac tapes, but I feared he might short circuit and shut down. And I had a deadline looming and not enough time to repair a broken boy. I was pretty sure I didn’t have the right tools for the job anyway, or the know-how. Dad is the one with the IT training so I’m leaving cassettes, phones with rotary dials and televisions without remote controls to him. Just in case something happens.
“What’s Screw?”
The 9-year-old son again.
“Excuse me?”
“What does screw mean?”
‘You mean like when you screw pieces of wood together?”
“No, it must mean something else too, because it didn’t make sense.”
“Where did you hear this?”
“In a video game.”
“Something Dad let you play?”
“Uh-hunh.”
“Go ask your father then, maybe he knows.”
“Whales Communicate”
This matter-of-fact statement came out of the blue one day from my daughter who was 5-years-old at the time. We used to watch a lot of Fantasia in our house.
Me, “Whales communicate?”
“Yes.”
“They do. That’s very good.”
“They talk to each other so one whale can find the other whale if they get separated. You know, like if there’s a fire or something.”
I would be lost without my kids. Also, I’d be broke. Without that bottomless well of child logic and inquisitiveness, I’d have nothing to blog about.
Nothing at all.
Except maybe the beagle.
But that’s a story for another blog.
Anne G is copywriter with big aspirations. She plans to one day parlay her writing talent into a paycheck big enough to provide for the kids, the cats, and the beagle in the custom they so richly deserve.
