Three Year-Old say WHAAATTT?

Okay, so perhaps I have watched too much Hannah Montana. I have young children, it could be worse. Anyway, back to the purpose of this post, my three year old and her ability to say just the right thing.

My family and I spent the weekend with the in-laws while my husband helped roof their shed. It was a beautiful weekend and the kids spent much time playing outside. They all had a great time, as they always do with the grandparents who feel it is their duty to spoil them insanely (yet manage to expect the behavior we expect. They are awesome grandparents!)

The kids took turns joining Daddy on the scaffolding that was about 7 feet off the ground. The boys actually got on the roof, the girls were content to help from the scaffolding. The three year old was sure she was big enough to climb the ladder and join Daddy. She was so proud of herself. She said "See, I am a big girl. I am Queen of the World! I am a brave Queen!"

This child makes me laugh endlessly. Later Saturday evening, we were beginning to clean up the backyard for the night. Emily was riding her tricycle through the big, open backyard. "Look, Mommy, I'm doing it. I'm riding my bike!" She was so proud.

As Uncle Josh headed to the garage with the air compressor in tow, Emily and Josh's paths intersected. Completely indignant that Josh should be in her way, she says loudly and clearly in her best big girl voice, "Excuse me! I'm riding my bike here!"

Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy all begin to laugh uncontrollably while Uncle Josh tries to stare her down. I believe she won the encounter.

What Will They Say Next?

If you have children you understand how entertaining they can be. They have a way of saying things that can make the meanest, crankiest, most irritable mommy laugh. I believe I am qualified to make that statement based on the following two pieces of information: 1) I am said mean, cranky, irritable mommy and 2)I have a lot of children (5 1/3 at present).

I always want to document these things to remember them, but never seem to have anything handy for writing. My sweet hubby likes to remind me that I have this handy device that I carry everywhere that has a place for notes - my cell phone. Since then I am trying to remember to jot notes in my phone so that later I can share my laughs will all of you. So here were go:

My 6 year old was pestering his 4 year old sister. She hit him back. He says to her "you aren't supposed to return evil for evil" precisely as he was kicking her back. Pause, let you laugh. Funny huh. Then I explain to him that he can't lecture his sister on the bible if he wasn't going to try to follow it. His response? A huge grin! He knew all along!

Background for this story, I babysit for my friends' boys a few days a week. They have a nine year old who gets along great with either my 10 year old son or my nine year old daughter, but not both at the same time. He likes to irritate and aggravate that girl just to make her whine. She's good at whining. She could have a PhD and teach graduate classes on whining, she is so good. One can understand why both her brother and the other boy like to aggravate her (by the way, her daddy does it, too). Anyway, she comes storming in the other day with a major whine, foot stopping, the whole nine yards and says to me, "I don't see how boys ever get married! They are all stinkers!" The funniest part is I have told his momma that I can see them marrying when they are grown!

Finally, for now, a story about my sweet 3 year old. Man is she cute. She has a way of saying things that make you have to hide your face as to not get caught laughing. Last night our family went on an impromptu camping trip. We arrived at the campground and looked around. We went to look at the lake. On our way up from the lake, my sweet daughter says to me, "Last time we were here, there wasn't a lake."

Helping Your Kids Build Healthy Relationships

It really annoys me when people ask my small children, even my four and five year-olds (oops, six year-old) if they have a boyfriend/girlfriend. Why do they do this? Really. I know older, grandparent types think it's a cute thing to ask them and tease them about growing up, etc.. The problem, which I doubt many grandparent types realize, is that in the world in which my children are maturing and growing, many children at seven, eight and nine years old have "girlfriends" or "boyfriends".

It seems like every year, kids at younger and younger ages begin to talk about the opposite sex as more than friends. What happened to the day of "cooties" and "boys are gross!"? I have become well known, not only with my children but with their friends as well, as the authority on the fact that they are too young for that boy/girl nonsense.

As my two older kids begin to approach that age, the age of hormones and finding some interest in the opposite sex, I have found that it is now important to explain better to my children why I feel that ten year-olds don't need to worry about boyfriends and girlfriends. I was inspired the other day, while driving with my children, with (in my opinion) a good explanation as to why girlfriends and boyfriends are not something God would want them dealing with right now. Here is my explanation to my kids. Maybe it will help some of you, maybe you have better thoughts you can share with us.

I discussed with my children God's view of marriage, that it is forever. We talked about friendships. I asked if they could have a friend now that would still be their friend in 5, 8, 10 or 20 years and they agreed that they could. We talked about how they could be friends with Sally now (names changed to protect the innocent) and in 5 years could meet Sandy and become friends with her. Does that mean that Sally is no longer a friend, of course not. In another 15 years they could meet Sami and become friends. We discussed that, although perhaps things would happen causing Sally to move away or change interests and they may over time lose touch and not be friends, they still COULD be friends even if new friends came along.

Then we discussed boyfriends. If you have a boyfriend named Bob now, is it likely that in 15 years you are really going to marry Bob? No, so in order for you to get a new boyfriend, the relationship with Bob has to end. So, I explained, if you have boyfriends or girlfriends now, you are entering into a relationship planning for it to end. God doesn't want us starting relationships planning to end them. We discussed that some day they would find their future spouse and if they'd had 10 "boyfriends" in elementary school and junior high, then that is 10 relationships that they started, knowing for sure they were going to end. I told them that it was like practising for divorce.

I don't yet know what we will do when they are 16 and 17. I don't feel pressed to make that decision now, but I want my kids to understand that this "harmless" flirtation with relationships isn't harmless. It starts them down a path of looking at relationships as disposable, not lifelong. I want my kids to know that, although things change and friends move on, you should never begin a relationship with the end in mind.