Their dad walked in and stopped. "Girl talk, huh?"
"Something like that," I said, enjoying myself.
Actually, we weren't talking girl stuff. (Fortunately! They're a little young for that stuff. I hope "girl talk" is a few years off yet.)
We got into talking about a series of books, and they were asking me something about the topic of the series, so I explained quite a bit about it. Suddenly my 10-year-old grunted.
With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head she said, "I swear, Mom, you know everything. Or if you don't know something, you go look it up."
I grinned and said, "And you know where I got that from? The part about looking stuff up?"
They both knew and answered in unison. "From Grandma."
"And that was before Google existed."
They mock-gasped at that and began making jokes about my growing up in prehistoric times.
But the reality is that I grew up with a mother who taught me to find out about something if I didn't know it.
If one of us kids asked a question at dinner and she or Dad didn't know the answer, she'd literally hop up from her chair, race downstairs to the encyclopedia (remember those things?) and come back ten minutes later with five cross-referenced volumes.
Then she'd read all the entries aloud as we ate. When she was satisfied that we all knew the answer to the question whoever had posed, she'd close the books with a nod, stack them up, and return to her now-cold dinner.
This was not an unusual event.
At one point, we suggested getting a bookshelf of reference books installed in the kitchen.
Is it any wonder that people regularly assumed my mother had several doctorate degrees?
My daughter may have been rolling her eyes and joking around, but she couldn't have given me a higher compliment than to compare me to my mother.
(Four days. Not that I'm counting.)
18 comments:
I love that they both knew exactly how you learned all that stuff.
Only four days! Good luck! I am sure that they will pass like cold molasses, but I know exactly how you feel. My children made a paper chain to mark the days until my parents returned from their mission. Truth be told, I was more excited about it than they were.
You ABSOLUTELY should take that as a compliment!
What a great tradition. There's probably no greater gift we give our kids than a love of knowledge both spiritual and temporal.
OH, my friend, we are kindred spirits! The number of times one of my siblings tells their kids to take their questions to Aunt InkMom, because she knows everything . . . research is fun, right?
I frequently boggle Boo's mind over the amount of stuff I know. And I am sincerely dreading the day when it switches the amount of stuff she thinks I don't know...
Researching is awesome. I am hoping that I'm instilling that ability in my kids, too.
It is refreshing to see when your children are curious about something. So often we learn just the answers but never enjoy the pleasure in finding out what those answers are. I think your children will remember your ability to search for the answers and do it themselves for their children.
I want to be that kind of mom.
Four days! That's so soon!
It IS a compliment! I love it.
I love it when people say I remind them of my mom, especially since I'm adopted!
You should definitely take that as a compliment! That's so cute. Love it.
An excellent compliment. (And even more so when you consider JD's remark about your mom that one time. ;) )
Hooray! Four days! I'm so happy for you, Annette. =]
That is definately some good times!
How exciting that you will be seeing your parents soon!
You have been Halloween boo!-ed on my blog. Be sure to check it out.
How cool! I think you should take the compliment too. =)
What a GREAT tradition to have in your home. I love that.
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