Mixing Up Words: The Funny Side of Life

I’m a morning person and I like to stay up late at night, but I have to take a nap every day. This morning I woke just after 5 am and stayed in bed for another 40 minutes just because it was too early even for me. When I did get up, it was so dark that the stars were still shining brightly. Since my husband isn’t a morning person and he also likes to stay up late, but doesn’t take a nap like me, I try not to wake him.

Amanda and Samantha

The other day, both Amanda and Samantha were already up after I had showered and wanted to get dressed, so I took my things to their room. A little bit later, Amanda came walking through to the office and thrust my pajama bottoms at me and said, “I found this on my bed!” She then told me to follow her to her room.

When we got there she said, “Look! Your dry hair is on my bed too and it’s making it so messy!” She meant my hairdryer and she isn’t normally so concerned about her bed. Later that day she mixed up another word. She called corn-on-the-cob "cob corn." This morning she gave me a new one, horse seals as in sea horses, too funny!

It’s hilarious when little kids get their words mixed up. By the time the evening of last night rolled around, I found the opposite to also be true. Both Amanda and Samantha were watching a cartoon. I asked them if it was the show where the kids turn into dinosaurs. Amanda felt that it was important that I know the proper name of the program and so she told me in her best teacher’s voice with great emphasis, “It’s Dino Squad.”

Well, I just burst out laughing. She could say Dino Squad perfectly, but not hairdryer. It just goes to show that some things are more important than other things in a 4-year-old’s life.

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When to Say "Yes" or "No" to TV Programs

The book Amanda is reading is called Who Lives Here?
It's a pop-up book published by Playmore and Waldman.

The other night Amanda said the silliest thing to me. “I’m going to get full of fire and I’m going to destroy the bad guys!” She demonstrated this by shooting her arms out in front of her and curling her fingers like claws. Obviously, she’s been watching too many of her brother and sisters’ TV programs. Secretly, I was impressed that she had used the word “destroy.”

When I had the three bigger kids, I was very strict with what they were allowed to watch even when it came to cartoons. Our youngest at the time was Samantha. She was more sensitive when it came to certain programs than Amanda is. I think it has to do with Samantha’s personality more than with my protectiveness, although I’m sure people will argue it the other way. Whatever the case, I’m less strict about what Amanda watches. Her siblings are that much older than her and I can’t tell them not to watch programs that relate to their age just because she’s there.

The previous weekend, however, I didn’t let Amanda watch the family-friendly movie that her three older siblings were watching. The movie was Nancy Drew. It has a so-called haunted house in the story and Amanda is still too young to distinguish between fiction and non-fiction. I didn’t want her to get scared or have bad dreams, so I put her to bed early and let her look at books instead. (She still corrects me and tells me that she’s “reading” and not “looking.”)

As a parent, it's very important that you decide what your child may or may not watch. Each child is different, so the line you draw must be fitting for that child. As the child grows and matures, that line must also be adjusted.

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