Kid Logic

This comic strip from Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac got me thinking about kid logic. And the way kids name their toys. I have three kids at home and am thus inundated with kid logic.

Polyfill is an absolutely logical name for an animal, as it’s probably filled with polyfill. When I was a kid, I had a stuffed cat that I called Whiskers but that the rest of the family called Mr. Rockbottom after the driveway gravel I filled him with after his stuffing fell out. I even sewed him up afterwards. Poor Mr. Rockbottom. I wonder where he is today.

Of course logic only goes so far. Our daughter has a cat with a spot on its back that looks like a slice of baloney, so, logically, the cat is called . . . Arlene. But I call it Baloney much to her consernation. "She's not Baloney! She's Arlene!"

But back to kid logic. Kids, in many ways, are like men. Very linear thinkers. If there’s something wrong, Mom or Dad ought to be able to fix it straightaway. They have complete faith that what they want is the correct thing to want, and that it can be made just as they desire. The faith part, Ibelieve, is why we're told in scripture to become as little children. Sure, little children have the attributes of humanity that ween't so great -- the desire to be the center of the universe, for one -- but it's that faith that keeps me thinking. nd I like how the mom in this strip just concedes to the demand. “I suppose I could sew a smile on his face.” It would have been so easy to blow Alice off. But she doesn’t. That’s a parenting tip I can take to heart.