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Show TflkB IFwvmqj 1Bb)Mb by MARY COONS Have you ever told someone something, then had it come back to you completely different than you intended the comment? Boy, I have! Try telling your children about an event, then they tell their friends, then the friends tell their parents, and the results can be hilarious, if not embarrassing. Art Linkletter wrote a book called, "Kids Say The Darndest Things" many years ago. In the book, he told how on his show on T. V. how children would repeat the unrepeatable to him right on the air. I remember as a teenager reading the book and just roaring with laughter. Now that I'm a parent, I don't think it's so funny. I'd hate to have a few of my comments hung out on a line for the world to see, wouldn't you? One of my favorites was the little kid who had been faithfully taught the national anthem by his parent and teacher. Upon closer examina tion, and being within earshot of the little guy, one could overhear him singing, "through the night with a light from a bulb." My younger sister, when she was about five years old would become very upset when we approached a street that dead-ended into a field. We finally asked her why she was so upset, and she said it was because we were near all the dead people on that street! We all have taken our children to Santa Claus at Christmastime, and had the little things scream with fright when we set him on the Jolly Old Elf's lap. Well, look at it from their viewpoint .. you're about three foot tall, and the warmth and comfort of mom and dad is suddenly replaced by a large stranger with a beard and a funny suit that looks nothing like the one dad went to work in this morning. Okay, folks, how would you feel. We expect children to have the same perceptions about life as we do, sometimes. But, we have to realize that they must live their own lives, and have their own experiences to use as a reference. I know that we all think our children are little carbon-copies of us at times, and that their level of maturity and experience is the same as ours was at that age. Don't bet on that - we come into this world with our very own looks and personalities, period. One thing that amazes me about our children is that they pick things up not only verbally, but by a sort-of ESP they have. I don't have to say anything about a subject, and they pick right up on what they think I think about that subject. I think most research would bear out the statement that what we teach our children in the home is not necessarily always the verbal statements state-ments we make about the world and people around us, but also the attitudinal non-spoken statements we do indeed make. |