You're Not Just Whistling Dixie!

Children have a unique perspective on the world. They try to make sense of what they see and hear by using their limited experience, knowledge, and vocabulary. Also, they tell it like it is.

My four-year old granddaughter was riding in the family van, and being able to see out the window from the vantage point of her carseat, noticed a man in another vehicle driving alongside the van.

"Mommy, that man has a whistle in his mouth."

Parents also try their best to make sense, in the midst of traffic and icy roads, of what their children are saying.

"Oh?"

"And . . . there's smoke coming out of the end of the whistle."

The light begins to dawn, on Mommy's face, at least.

Now there is more surprise in the little voice in the backseat: "And he's sucking on the whistle, instead of blowing on it!"

She blew the whistle on him, in no uncertain terms.