There follows a conversation I had with my daughter a couple of days ago.
Me: “What would you like in your sandwich?”
The Girl: “Crumby ham1 and cheese”
Me: “Crumby ham and cheese what?”
TG: “Crumby ham and cheese please mummy”
Me: “Wooden cheese2 or cow3 cheese?”
TG: “Cow cheese please”
Before I had children I had a lot of ideas about how we would bring them up. The usual things like no TV (whoops), breastfeeding until weaned (whoops), no bribing my children with food (whoops). I also assumed that I would teach my children how to speak my language, not that they would teach me how to speak their language. Whoops.
It’s taken me 3 and a half years to come to the realisation that the child-rearing assumptions I made before having children were completely unrealistic. Thank goodness I didn’t share those assumptions with too many other people, particularly people who had children before me!

1 Crumbed ham
2 Hard cheese that you would slice or grate to put in a sandwich
3 Cheese spread





7 comments
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25 June, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Veronica
Oh I like the idea of ‘wooden cheese, or cow cheese’. That amuses me!
25 June, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Marylin
Hehe, love it.
25 June, 2009 at 5:03 pm
angelfeet
Wooden cheese? WOODEN CHEESE!!!!
25 June, 2009 at 5:43 pm
gawdessness
now that is a winsome shot!
and now, I want a ham and cheese sandwhich!
25 June, 2009 at 5:47 pm
jo(e)
I’m laughing. And I too remember all the grand ideas I had about parenting before actual children entered the picture to set me straight ….
25 June, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Suzanna
That made me laugh (and makes complete sense). We also have moon cheese (babybel) here! x
10 July, 2009 at 11:42 am
tiff
I say snicker snackers instead of tongs and sprinkle cheese instead of grated cheese.
I think we all change our standards when we have kids. I kind of think snicker snackers makes way more sense than tongs, don’t you.
I very much like your girl’s expressive, descriptive words. I may just have to pinch them!