Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Seeing Through the Eyes of a Child: Object and Word Association


As parents or adults, we love to hear the cute ways kids use words in unusual ways. They use words in the way that they understand them. They have yet to learn appropriate context. As writers this gives us opportunity to relearn our world. Break out of the box of appropriate context.

Some recent examples from my house:

My 4 year old uses the word "timber" in place of "fall". ie: "I timbered off the chair."
No, we are not a family of lumber jacks. I have no idea where she got this.


My 2 year old calls polka dots "bubbles"
When I pull out a polka dot dress or shirt she gushes "Oohhhh! I like bubbles!" When I try to tell her they are polka dots, she adamantly exclaims, "No! Bubbles!"


And the other night my 4 year old prayed that her older sister would get 100 percent on her spelling test. Instead it came out "Dear God, please help my sister get 100 tents on her spelling test."


So, here's your creative challenge for the day. Try to think about the words and objects that you encounter throughout your day. How could a child precieve them?

Or please! Share some of your "cute" kid association stories to help get us in a creative frame of mind.

10 comments:

Brenda said...

When my son was very small, I saw him waving out the car window, so I asked him what he was waving at and he said, "the tree hands cuz' they're waving at me."

After a few more questions, I figured out he meant the leaves on the trees (I was worried he was seeing little green men waving at him...grin)...

He thought the leaves looked like hands waving...

Unknown said...

I'm not sure if this counts, but when I was little, I'd call hotel suites, sweeties. I'd never heard the word, only read it! My mom still makes fun of me for that.

Tabitha said...

Great post! I love hearing all the cute things kids say.

I've got two boys, who just turned 3 and 5. Any time I wear a skirt, my five year old always asks "Mommy, are you a princess today?" Makes my heart melt. :)

My three year old is a non-stop chatterbox, and his words change every day. The latest is that he's calling all sweets "little chocolates." It could be a jelly bean, and he still calls it a little chocolate. :)

Brenda said...

Just wanted to let you know that not only did you get tagged by me earlier today, I have now nominated you for the "I Love Your Blog" award...

Check my blog to see the post...

Jacqui said...

My son likes to over group; he calls all breakfast food "buggles" (bagels), all condiments "jelly," all farm animals "moocow," and everybody from Sesame Street "Melmo."

But my favorite is my sister who was about four many years ago during the Iran hostage situation. She was shocked when the hostages got home to find that they were people. She thought it was an "ostrich situation."

sruble said...

I love timber and bubbles! When I was a kid, I thought that putting your hand out the car window and letting it go up and down like the wind was like a fish swimming through water.

C.R. Evers said...

oh guys!!!! I love these stories!!!!!!!

oh, and Brenda, you made my day with the award and the meme! I'll aim to post mine tomorrow. :0) Love the waving hands!

beth, how sweet! or should I say how sweetie! ;0)

Tabitha, that makes my heart melt too!!!! So precious!

Jacqui, all those are GREAT! :0) No wonder you're so funny, you're surrounded by good material.

Christy

C.R. Evers said...

Hey Sruble! Good to see you! That car window thing is cute cute cute! :0)

christy

Adrienne said...

I'll take a wild guess and bet your 4 year old saw a cartoon of a tree falling and someone yelling, "Timber!" It makes perfect sense she'd think that word meant falling!

My son never struggled to find the right word - if he got stuck he'd just make up one on the spot. There were too many for me to remember...

C.R. Evers said...

Hey Adrienne! Thanks for stopping by. I bet you're right about the cartoon. Whenever I don't know where they come up with stuff, 9 times outta 10 it comes from t.v.!

If you think if any of your sons funnies, come back and share some! I love all these stories!

:0)

Christy