Column: Something About Nothing

I have written many children’s sermons for churches. I try and make them kid friendly, easy to understand. I try to use words and phrases that are simple and that I think kids can understand.

I didn’t realize until recently when my 7-year-old granddaughter stayed with us that I need to make sure that I do that in real life too.

My granddaughter and I were watching HGTV’s “House Hunters International.” We both love the house and decorating shows.

A young lady was looking for apartment in Italy. As she was shown the first apartment it was noted that it did not have a dishwasher. The next two apartments did.

After a little thought my granddaughter asked me this question: “How will she do dishes if she doesn’t have a dishwasher?”

My granddaughter is very intelligent and reasons things out very well. I looked at her strangely and said: “They wash the dishes by hand in the sink.” She then looked at me strangely.

I know that her parents wash some dishes in the sink, but my granddaughter always puts the dishes on the table in the dishwasher for her parents. Putting the dishes in the dishwasher is her job so I don’t think she notices the dishes that possibly get washed in the sink. I took it for granted that she knew people always used to wash dishes by hand.

Later on in the evening we were watching “Design Star” on HGTV. The contestants were decorating various rooms in a home. Two of these rooms were a living room and a dining room. They were mentioned at the beginning of the show, and that is when new questions were asked by my granddaughter.

“What is a dining room?”

I answered: “This room we are sitting in used to be a dining room and now it is a living room.”

Her next question: “What do you do in a dining room?”

I answered: “That is where you eat around a table in a special room just for having a meal.”

Her family does not have a formal dining room so her eating area is open and part of the kitchen. I then explained about the room we were in and why it used to be called a dining room.

Her next question: “What is a living room?”

These questions are ones that we adults take for granted. Imagine how confusing it might be to a child. The room we were watching television in is my living room. Her grandfather was watching television in the family room. Why are they different? What makes one a living room and what makes one a family room?

I thought of all the conversations we have with children. “Don’t talk to strangers.” What is a stranger?

I have two other problems when I talk to my grandchildren. I am from Minnesota, and I am old. What was dinner is now lunch or brunch and what was supper is now dinner. The kids never know what I am going to feed them because they haven’t figured out which meal Grandma is talking about.

There is wisdom in the words of children. Their words make me look at my world and my explanations of my world in an entirely different way. Things that I take for granted are not always so easily explained. Our world would be simpler if we looked at our world with the simplicity of a child.

Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom for the future and a little reminder for us adults to explain in a simple way what the heck we are talking about.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net.