Kids Say the Darndest Things

Tomorrow is my last day of Christmas vacation. I realize that I am very blessed to have a two week break, so I will not complain about that. But, I still have to prepare myself for the second half of the school year. I figure, what better way to do that than to remember some great verbal gems from the first semester and look forward to the verbal gems I will undoubtedly hear in the second.

One of my students and I were playing a game similar to 25,000 dollar pyramid. My young friend was trying to describe countries in Africa and Asia. Her clue: "It's a place where they have black hair." Hmm...what country in Asia and Africa do they have black hair? "Oh," she said next, "they also eat a lot of rice."

One of my young friends was upset about a test score and during our group session, he commented about his test and then said he was the "stupidest" kid in his class. Another young friend, in trying to make him feel better said, "That's not true, I know someone stupider than you."

On another occassion, a young friend of mine reported to the group that she was going to go visit her sister at Texas Tech. Well, someone in the room told the group that Tech's mascot is the Red Raider, while another said Texas Tech is TT for short. I asked my young friends what the Red Raiders say at football games, I made the hand signal and started the phrase "get your...." Well, one young friend, taking a stab at it said, "Get your TT."

But my personal favorite was when we were interviewing a 16 year old who clearly did not want to be talking to a roomful of adults(who could blame him?). Anyway, he would consistently provide us with one word answers, even when asked open ended questions about topics he enjoyed, such as 80's and 90's rock. So, finally, in desperation, after he was asked a question and he just kept staring at the ground, one adult asked him, "What would Kurt Cobain do?(WWKCD)" Not exactly sure I want my 16 year old basing their actions on Kurt Cobain, but sometimes we'll do anything for a response. I realize that this is a verbal gem from an adult friend, but we're all kids at heart, right?