This is why we don't talk to strangers

[fiveallmineblog]

My friends have kids who are shy and restrained.  Nice quiet children who listen, and don’t run away from their mother on the street… my children are noisy.  Ridiculously noisy.  Each one seems to be louder than the next and I can only assume that it’s because they have to be loud to be heard.  Hell, I have to be loud to be heard, that’ s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

I have problems hearing low sounds and voices a lot of the time (yes, even the voices of the mothers, of these nice quiet children) and although I haven’t had my hearing checked, I am sure I have hearing loss, and I wholeheartedly blame my children.  Too much time in the van with five children is sure to cause hearing loss, I have no doubt.

People who know us love that my kids are chatty and friendly, so full of personality and so likable.  I love that about them too.  I love to talk also, so I guess they get that from me, and I know that at times I talk too much and wish afterward that I had stopped talking or hadn’t told that last story, or whatever.  But when they never stop talking or laughing. Oh my.

Jack has always been the one to automatically recite the names and ages of himself and his siblings at the drop of a hat.  Sometimes people wouldn’t have even asked, maybe just smiled in our direction and he’d smile broadly and begin ‘I’m Jack  and I’m 7, that’s Jeremy and he’s 9, that’ s Paulina and she’s 10….’ 

One of my friends says she’s embarassed that her kids don’t answer when people speak to them, so she didn’t understand my complaint that when at the grocery store, my kids were chatting up the poor flustered cashier so much that I had to tell them to leave her alone. What’s this? What’s that? We have 5 kids! You get the idea…

Today I was shocked when my normally timid 4 year old actually said to the cashier at Walmart, ‘Hey-we have five kids!” He certainly knows how to start a conversation.   Her response, “I would have killed myself if I had five kids, and if I had had twins, I would have given one away.”  My son’s  eyes went wide and he backed away, climbing onto Ronald McDonald’s lap at the attached restaurant, no doubt seeking some comfort from the crazy, child hating cashier.    I think he may think twice about starting a conversation again with someone he doesn’t know.  Maybe I will too for that matter.

[officerjoeys]

Oct. 4, 2009 at 5:47 PM

I think she was pretty rude and little harsh. Sometimes people don't think how a little kid is going to view what they say. I would have answered  her back with "Thank God you don't have kids then," but that's just me. She could have responded a little bit nicer to him. He's a 4yr old boy. What is wrong with people??