As a tribute to each of the mothers reading this column around Mother’s Day, I would like to thank you for your love, care, nurturing, patience, training and so many other great qualities you exhibit during the raising of your children. The easiest way for me to do that is to discuss one of my television heroes from yesteryear, Art Linkletter. Art started a radio show in 1945 called “House Party,” which carried over to television from 1952 to 1969.
Probably like many, my fondest memory of the show was the segment called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Art would interview a group of four children sitting on chairs by asking them questions, and then it was “Katie bar the door” because no one knew what the kids were going to say next. Of course, Art added to the hilarity by making surprisingly shocking faces to exaggerate the effect of the answers.
Thanks, mothers, for all your efforts in helping to raise your amazing kids. I celebrate this achievement by recalling several examples of conversations from my five year old grandson. These examples are given not to laugh at my grandson by any means, but to be thankful for how God has created him, his ability to learn the language and at the same time show his personality.
When he was just starting to talk, like any youngster, many of his words were undecipherable. He had a word he used many times. It was “Asita” (pronounced A-see-ta with both a’s short). It took all of us a few months to figure out he was saying: “I see that.”
When I picked him up at pre-school, he asked me if I brought his stuffed monkey for him. I said yes! Next, he asked if I brought a treat for him. When I answered yes (a piece of butterscotch hard candy), he said: “Wow, you are ahead of the game!”
One Sunday, his family was late for Sunday school. When he walked into his classroom, where the first thing they did was play with Play Doh, he said with his arms spread out at chest level and palms facing up: “I knew it, I knew it, I missed the Play Doh.”
Once he was in Sunday school listening to the day’s Bible story from Genesis, chapter 29, where Jacob wanted to marry the beautiful Rachel. Her father, Laban, approved the marriage if Jacob would work for him for seven years. After Jacob had fulfilled Laban’s condition, Jacob was deceived into marrying Rachel’s less desirable, older sister, Leah. When the Sunday school teacher explained that Jacob would have to work for Laban another seven years to marry Rachel, my grandson said: “Seven more years? How long is this story?”
When driving past a friend’s house whose name is Charlie, the boy remarked about a barn that looked almost totally new. When I told him it had been damaged very badly by a tornado and was almost all rebuilt, he said: “There was no tornado here!” I said: “Yes there was. The next time we visit Charlie, we will ask him.” He immediately said: “How about if you put the car in Super Charge reverse and we can go ask Charlie now?”
While riding in the car with his grandmother, the four year old informed her a famous guy with a beard at Christmas time was not real. At this point she asked him if God was real. Without hesitation, he said: “TOTALLY!”
In order to teach his not yet four year old son about money and being a good steward with it, his father had some inexpensive items to sell on eBay. His father told him he could have 25 percent of the income if he helped. The son was then told he would have to give at least 10 percent to Sunday school. The money was to go to a missionary who works at an orphanage, which the church helps to support. The son was told what an orphanage is and that not all boys and girls have parents, as much food, clothes or toys as he did. The son cried and said he wanted to give all his money to the orphanage. Later he followed up with his dad to see when they could have another sale to get more money for the orphanage.
The five year old listened intently to his Sunday school teacher explain the seventh commandment (“Thou shalt not commit adultery”). She explained it as the mommy and daddy would always stay together. The child’s expression changed to one of worry. When the teacher asked him what was wrong, he said that his mommy and daddy separate when they go to work! Obviously, the boy took what the teacher said too literally. However, wouldn’t it be nice if adults would listen more carefully to the Scriptures and obey them as the boy wanted to?
I could not make the trip with my wife to visit our grandson, who lives nearby. Upon arrival my wife was asked where Papa was. When she replied that he had to stay home because of a sore back, the grandson immediately said to his mother: “Mommy, we must pray for Papa.” What a lesson for us all – depending on God for all things!
The boy sat in the barber’s chair getting his hair cut when the telephone rang. The barber had to leave for a minute or so to take the call. When the barber returned to continue cutting his hair, the boy said: “Now we can get back to business.”
Finally, the boy was visiting us. While in another room, all of a sudden a musical tune could be heard. The boy did not know the words but he was humming a tune that was unmistakable: “Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms; Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms” (second verse of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by Reverend E. A. Hoffman and A. J. Snowalter).
Yes, Art, who was married to his wife for 74 and half years before he died at the age of 97, is a hero of sorts for his traits of devotion to his wife, wit and his love for kids. He certainly did prove: “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Much of his success came not only from what the kids said, but the foundations laid by mothers!
Jeff Hall, of Honey Brook, contributes columns to Berks-Mont Newspapers. Questions/comments may be directed to jeffreyhall77@comcast.net.
