By MIM ROBSON @mimrobsonartist
I wrote a piece in December’s issue about a project I’m working on called 100 Days of Little Stories. As part of the project I made a little booklet by collaging words and pictures from a vintage ladybird book of some of my favourite things one of my nephews said when he was young. I’d saved these gems for years, knowing there was something special about these quotes that captured his off-the-wall mind, great sense of humour and his unique take on life.
I had a few other quotes and overheard moments of childish chatter I’d saved in my notepad from years of being an auntie to a quirky crew of nieces and nephews. One I often think of now I live up in North Shields is when my nephew, whilst talking to his mum, became distracted – his mum asked him what was going on and he regained focus and said
“oh, nothing, I just thought I saw a mackem in the back yard”.
This wasn’t long after the time that he asked his mum “soooo… when did you first get into salt?”. I found notes on his older brother too – a snippet of conversation between him and his dad that went simply:
Dad: “Don’t put that in the shredder please.”
Nephew: “Why?” Dad, exasperated: Because it’s a biscuit”.
I overheard a very charming and wholesome conversation between two 5 year olds in my family recently – my niece asked her cousin if it was the first time he would have been to her house. When he said yes, it’s the first time, she told him
“We’ve got lots of cool stuff. We’ve got a bouncy ball. A rainbow one.”
I loved hearing the genuine pride she had in her rainbow bouncy ball and it made me feel like on some level, all is ok with the world. I asked some friends for their best kid quotes in preparation for writing this piece. I got some excellent responses.
A few good, thought-provoking questions such as
“why is it never summer in space?”,
“do you ever get bird traffic jams?”,
and “is Holland and Barrett a country?”
to get the mind a-whirring. One friend, Jen, told of an unusual and memorable conversation she had with her 4 year old son, Bo, about the weather, that went something like…
Jen: “it is hot today”
Bo “as hot as a boomerang”
Jen: “er… I don’t think boomerangs are that hot Bo. What about as hot as lava?
Bo: “no because we would get burnt”
Jen “oh ok, what about as hot as a pool of hot chocolate?”
Bo: you don’t get pools of hot chocolate. Because you would just drink it”
Jen: “ok. As hot as the sun?”
Bo: “but the sun is making it hot “
Jen: “yes…” Later that day they cleaned Bo’s scooter, and Bo began “this is as clean as a boomerang”.
One friend’s daughter came out with some really poignant, and painfully relatable comments when she was 3-4 years old. One was “Oh I’m really so tired because tomorrow’s a busy day” – a feeling a lot of adults will be familiar with I expect. This friend also told me about a day that her daughter was feeling unwell – she was comforting her daughter and noticed that she was talking differently. She asked her “why are you talking in that voice?” Her daughter replied “because I still got my baby self inside” In sharing this story my friend expressed that her daughter’s response was so simple but that it perfectly described something she feels herself when she’s unwell, or feeling down, and can’t speak to her mum anymore. I found it touching that perhaps without intending to, this little one had helped her mother understand more about her own experience of life.
A couple more to end on that I enjoyed… Jen, this time with her daughter, Evelyn, age 6, was discussing the word ‘unusual’…
Jen: “Evie, do you know what the word unusual means?
Evie: “Like strange”
Jen: “yes, that’s right”
Evie: And strange would be like if you had one massive eyebrow and one tiny one”.
Incredible and unforgettable imagery there from Evelyn. One more from Bo, before we go “I hurt my toe, and it was my favourite one!” Poor kid. Great that he values his toes though. We could learn a lot from these young’uns!
We want to hear the funny, weird ,sweet, wholesome or special things kids in your life have said that stuck with you.
Send us your best kid quotes! Email Mim at [email protected]
