Everyday in my classroom, my preschool students show me the literal world of 4-year olds. But some of the most amusing stories originate from my own children.
Although my daughters are now grown, I have many fond memories- this one nearly 20 years ago- of how they saw the world so literally.
As a mom of 4 young girls, my days were engrossed in the business of raising them, rewarding, but sometimes hectic, even chaotic. For the sake of this story it is prudent to note that at that time we also had a pet. Buddy was our beloved tabby cat.
With all of this on my plate, I was blessed to have help with housecleaning. June, our housecleaner, would dependably arrive once a month to scrub bathrooms, vacuum, mop the kitchen floor. Ahhh…it was such a luxury to have an all-at-one-time-top-to-bottom clean house, for a day or two at least.
On this particular day, June arrived to clean. My kids knew to stay out of her way as she worked. My 2 youngest daughters, Jaclyn and Elizabeth, would poke their heads around the corner and giggle at June.
As the housecleaner moved from room to room, the girls kept saying, “Hi June,” then giggling and running off. At one point I heard June stop and have a conversation with them.
“How are you today?”
“Good!” (giggles)
“You are having fun today, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” (more giggles)
“You two sure are little buddies.”
More giggles. But this time a hesitation. I peeked down the hallway in time to see Jaclyn put her hands on her hips and declare, “We are NOT buddies…we don’t have tails!”
Ha! This time it was me giggling, and so was June as she realized their literal interpretation of her comment. The literal mind of a preschooler…it will crack me up everytime!
About the blogger:
Theresa Young owns Lenape Kiddie Kollege, a nursery school in Medford, NJ. She has taught in the Pre-K class since 1995. She is married, a mom of 4 grown daughters and a Grammy of 2.
Check out www.lenapekiddiekollege.com and Facebook.com/LenapeKiddieKollege. Theresa can be reached at Theresalkk@msn.com or 609-654-5355.