Kids, phones and conversationsby Kim Leady
What do you have when you put a phone in a child’s hand? Depending on their age, you could either get no more incoming calls…unless you have call waiting, or you might even get a conversation you’re not soon to forget.
Here are a couple of phone stories I’d like to share with you.
My 5-year-old niece, Megan, gave me strict instructions on when, how and why I was to take care of her puppy, Rosie, while they were away on vacation. Bending down to her eye level, I swore to uphold her rules of puppy care. Several days later I called her to let her know how much Rosie missed her, and to let her know Rosie was still okay.
After a few minutes of catch-up conversation – she’s staying with family that has a barn filled with animals and was excited to tell me all about what she had seen – we got around to why I had called her.
I no sooner started to explain all the funny things Rosie had been doing, when out of the blue Megan begins to rattle off questions about: had Rosie pee peed outside, did Rosie poop in the woods, and had I remembered to give Rosie 1 treat for peeing and 2 treats for pooping?
Apparently, the fact that I have three dogs, have raised two sons and have watched Megan and her brother, Kody, was not enough to assure her that I was capable of watching her puppy for a week.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her the first few days Rosie missed out on the treats because her Aunt Kimmy forgot her treat instructions…but the rest of the week I made sure Rosie got her treats and then some.
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When our sons, Tim and Steve, went away this past summer to Florida with friends of our family for nine days, the boys left with the understanding they would call home every once and awhile. On the second evening, from their hotel room, it was Tim’s turn to do the honors of dialing the ‘old parents’.
Following the phone instructions next to the phone, Tim dialed 9 and then he hit 1for long distance and then 1-800…to use his calling card. This little button-pushing mix-up caused the group to receive a friendly visit from the police department on a 911 call.
When the officer arrived wanting to know what the emergency was, it took the group a minute to figure out just how and who had dial 911.
Poor Tim, all he was trying to do was call his parents.
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A phone conversation with a 5-year-old can sometimes be confusing and or frustrating, but I have never hung up without a smile on my face.
Several weeks ago, my niece, Megan, was going to visit the county fair her mother and I went to every year while growing up. Because this fair is small, and thank goodness never changes, I knew there would be a vender there that sold “Elephant Ears”. For those that have never had the eating pleasure of sampling one of these fine treats, it’s nothing more than batter fried in grease, in a shape of a not so round disc the size of a Frisbee and then generously coated with sugar and cinnamon. Best washed down with homemade lemonade.
So, in my conversation with her I mentioned to Megan to eat an “Elephant Ear” for me.
This is where the fun began.
In a very serious…almost alarming voice, Megan asked how I could even suggest she eat a poor helpless elephant’s ear?
I smiled, and then explained that the food really wasn’t made of elephant ears. But then she wanted to know why would they call them that if the food didn’t come from an elephant?
Good question. I have no idea, but nevertheless a good question.
After several minutes of deep thought, the only thing I could think of was ‘hot dogs’. So, I told her there wasn’t a reason, just like there wasn’t a good reason for hot dogs to be named “hot dogs” when they weren’t made of dogs.
And for some unexplained reason (“reason” and 5-year-olds really don’t mix), our conversation about “hot dogs” triggered something in Megan’s brain, which took our conversation down the path about the big bird bone we had a long time ago.
Now Megan’s at the age where she thinks you should be able to read her mind and know what she talking about even if it’s about something that took place 10 months ago at…say at Thanksgiving.
Come on Aunt Kimmy think, think…don’t you remember…
Since we have been out in CA technology has been the life-line to our kids, family and dogs (we have a webcam on the at home), so I thought this story was fitting. On the way out here while we were in the plane sitting on the tarmack at Devner we get a txt from our DIL telling us that she has taken our youngest to the ER (he's fine and they let him go home the same day) but of all times to have to deal with something like that. Miles away and the pilot telling you that all cell phones need to be turned off. 
Hope you enjoy.
Kim
