Yesterday afternoon, I was minding my own business (uh-oh) when my still-homeschooled-eleven-year-old-son (Zachary) called to me from the other room. A room that had a tv in it.
Our room-to-room conversation went as follows:
Zachary:
Mom! (remainder unintelligible)
(repeating what I swear he just said)
Sarah Palin Paintball - ?? WHAT??
Zachary:
(cracks up)
No, Mom! I SAID, "I finished Sarah, Plain and Tall."
(As in, the BOOK):
This sort of thing happens All. The. Time. I have NO clue what my children are saying. Are they mumbling? Are my ears deteriorating? A possible combination of both? (I am, of course, quite old.)
I mean, it's not like this particular child don't say strange stuff. In support of this, I offer you the following worksheets. The italics parts are what Zachary chose to fill in for his "choose your own words to answer the passages" sentences:
When you're in a blizzard... it's gonna be cold.
If you see a tornado... RUN!
You should try to read the newspaper, even though... it sucks.
Without machines... we would have no iPods.
Anybody can take a picture as long as... they aren't stupid.
A hungry alligator wish sharp teeth... ate your face.
If you treat them well... humans will like you.
Smart shoppers think before... they go around spending money.
If mammals didn't exist... there would be no pandas.
Now, is there any doubt in my mind that this child, plopped near a tv, might just yell something to me about "Sarah Palin Paintball?" I mean, no matter what side of the political spectrum you're on (and we in the State Department are a HIGHLY politically-varied group), "Sarah Palin Paintball" could surely all come together in the same phrase and possibly make sense, in the correct circumstances. One supposes.
And, as I said, this sort of thing happens to me all the time. Just this morning, the same child said something to me that I THOUGHT was about Bucharest. Turns out, he was asking for breakfast.
My ears, my ears... they fail me!
Recent Comments