"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Thursday, January 7, 2010
This morning my two year old got out of bed and came to see me, blurry eyed and still in his P.J's. "Good Morning", I said. "How did you sleep last night?"
"With my eyes closed," he said immediately.
Well, there you go. Can't argue with that. :-) But he wasn't joking. That was his honest answer and that's how he understood the question.
Children are concrete thinkers. They have difficulty with the abstract. Expressions and figures of speech are so often lost on them. Many an amusing moment when I do children's sermons on Sunday Mornings comes when a child answers a questions with a concrete or literal answer.
I wish I had started a journal of all the times my kids interpreted something I said literally. So many of those email jokes people send around with kids saying cute things to their Sunday School teachers are just kids understanding what grown-ups say literally. We laugh. But that's how they think. I always try to remind myself of that when talking to kids. But I didn't see this one coming.
I think our kids should be laughing at us. Do we realize how silly we sound?
What examples do you have of your kids answering you or understanding you literally? (Please don't paste one of those email joke things. I want to hear about your kids.:)
Or give me examples of silly things we grown ups say, if taken literally. (Like "I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.")
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Comments on "Examples Of How Children Think":
2. Nathan (the British one)
- 01/07/2010 10:45 am CST
I was having a band practice with my friend Pete at his house, and when we'd finished, he asked his three-year-old son Conrad, "How did that sound?"
"Like that," he answered.
Which was entirely true.
3. BiF
- 01/07/2010 4:23 pm CST
My son was not quite two and I was getting him out of his car seat, not always an easy thing to do in a two door car. He was holding his head up and I couldn't get him out of the car without hitting his head. I suggested he lower his head by telling him to duck. He promptly answered, "Quack, Quack." It wasn't until that evening that I realized what he had said when I was telling my wife about it.
4. Cara
- 01/07/2010 5:18 pm CST
This isn't quite what you are looking for - but 3 year olds don't have the vocabulary we do so they often go for approximations and their descriptions can be pretty funny. At 2 my daughter said that "lemons tickle my tongue" (which came out as "yemons tickow my ton" and when she hurt herself coming down the stairs I asked her where it hurt and she told me "my foot-wrist" which of course would be her ankle. LOL
7. Weekend Fisher
- 01/07/2010 9:45 pm CST
How about my nephew? It was late once and his dad asked him, "Are you tired?" And he said, "A little bit. My foot's asleep."
10. damien
- 01/08/2010 6:14 pm CST
my wife pondered out loud to our small children in the car one day: "what would we ever do if papa died?" my five year old son's completely serious response from the back seat: "bury him."
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Asked of my then-eight-year-old son:
"Did you sleep well?"
He answered: "I don't know, I was asleep."