While the Wallace and Gromit movies are terrifically funny, they don’t necessarily convey anything educational to my children. Sometimes, though, we can learn the most interesting things from the most unlikely sources...
I believe in home education. I believe parents have a right to teach their children at home and for the most part, I also think this is the best way to educate and train our children. Even homeschool opponents are finally starting to realize that there is something to this method of teaching and homeschooled children typically well-educated, well-socialized, well-behaved, and well, just great kids! Sometimes, though, all this “greatness” can go to our heads and I am the first to admit it when I have had to come down from the mountain of pride over my children’s remarkability.
Recently I was in a store with Hannah, my four-year-old. Now Hannah is a bright little child. She can remember things that happened when she was one-year-old, she memorizes Bible verses, sits politely when I’m in meetings, and just loves doing schoolwork. So one day we ran errands for several hours alone while Chris was at home with the other children. Hannah wanted to go with me because she wanted me to buy her a new book.
I kept telling her that the bookstore was last on our stopping list. We were finally done with all errands except returning a broken coffee pot, grabbing a bite to eat, and then heading to the bookstore. At this large chain store, I waited in line for a long time and finally it was my turn to return my unworthy kitchen appliance.
I put Hannah up on the counter beside me and the lady said, “She is such a cute little girl.” I thanked her and commented that she was such a special blessing to me.
Then, I said, “Hannah, we’re going to eat next. Are you getting hungry?” She shook her head yes.
I said, “Well, what would you like to eat?”
And I tell you that it took about two seconds for me to fall right off any pedestal I might have been standing on because she said back, in a very loud voice I might add, “Cheese, Gromit!!!” Now anyone who has seen the movie will recognize this phrase as a question that Wallace frequently asks Gromit. Hannah had just turned it right around and used the question as a statement of “I’m really tired of errands and I want my book and I don’t really care about what kind of food I get.”
The lady at the counter kind of glanced at Hannah and I said, “Really, Hannah, what kind of food would you like to eat?” She again said, “Cheese, Gromit!!”
For the next three or four minutes this scene replayed itself over and over again and the child refused to say anything except, “Cheese, Gromit!” no matter what I asked her. I asked her if she wanted off the counter and she replied, “Cheese, Gromit!” Of course my response to that was to immediately take her down off the counter so that the lady behind it wouldn’t have quite as good a view of this little creature who had replaced my sweet four-year-old.
I bent down to Hannah and whispered, “You’re being very silly and you need to stop that now,” to which she replied in a soft little whisper, “Cheeeeeese, Gromit.”
I turned my attention to the broken coffee pot and we eventually were able to leave the store. Outside, I said, “Hannah, I can’t believe you were being so silly in there. What do you want to eat?” She said, “I think I’d like chicken fingers, but can we go by the bookstore and buy my book first?”
No matter what curriculum you use, how well you train your children, how many Bible verses you know, remember this as you begin this homeschool journey or even as you finish and send your almost grown children into the world. We can train them, teach them, love them, discipline them, but they are still people who will eventually (sooner for some and later for others) make decisions on their own.
For a while, they might just prefer to say, “Cheese, Gromit!!”
Sonya Haskins
Comments
Feb. 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by blessinghill
That's too funny! Kids sure do the craziest things in the craziest of places. You'll really love telling that story to her children one day.