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[From the back seat while driving to rehearsal.]
Caleb (5): Mom, I have to tell you something.
Mom: What?
Caleb: There's something bad.
[Pause]
There's something bad at…bu…bu…
Mom: What's bad?
Caleb: There's something bad at Ba…rack Obama.
[Stifled laughter. OK, not too stifled.]
…
[When we get back home over two hours later.]
Caleb: Mom, there was a paper. Where's the paper?
Mom: What paper?
[Monica show him the newspaper on table.]
Caleb: This paper! Look!
[Shows front page of Deseret News, featuring a large picture of Barack Obama.]
Caleb: See! What does that say?
Mom: “Obama wins.”
Caleb: Yea, see? There's something bad.
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
He’s pretty much a political savant.
THAT’ WAS GREAT! I PUSHED THE FORWARD AND BACK KEEP IN QUICK REPETITION AND ERASED ALL MY COMMENTS!
I don’t want to trivialize this because i know in a way it is real big. ( my son, a two time Iraq vet in the national guard, is just sick at the election results. ) but we’ll get through this. NObama is not king. he’s just president. there is a lot he can do. but there is a lot he can not. don’t take counsel of your fears. (that last statement was for me as much as for anyone else)
Ummm…okay.
I was a McCain supporter, and I was disappointed in Obama’s win (although it really didn’t take a rocket scientist to see it coming). But Obama is the President-Elect of the United States now. He won fair and square. Both he and McCain have graciously talked about how now we move forward as one nation, and not divided. Because of this, I hope with all of my heart and with all of my prayers that Obama will be the greatest President we’ve ever had. I never want to say “See?! He’s awful!” Who wants vidication when the country’s falling apart? I really hope Obama can make a believer out of me (and trust me, I’m not easily duped).
Because of this, I took the time to talk to my kids this morning about why we respect the President of the United States. My daughter said to me: “But mom, your guy didn’t win!” and I said “That’s what’s so great about this country. We don’t get angry when the other guy wins.”
cheryl, i know what your saying and I agree in part, but I have to admit, i’m holding my breath to see what his first move is. He hasn’t won my confidence yet. And we’d be fools to sit back and say “ok he’s president, anything he says is right” that’s why we have a balance of power.
cheryl, if you missed it, my son turned five two weeks ago. He has no idea who Obama is nor who McCain is. (I was not a McCain supporter.) I asked him. He said, “The paper said, ‘He’s a bad guy.'” (He likes to imagine that he can read.) And I told him, “No, he’s not. He’s going to be the president.” And he said, “What’s the president?”
The statement had nothing to do with any real feelings. He likes to talk about Star Wars more than anything. (For FHE last night he was in charge of the opening song and we sang the Star Wars theme!) And for Halloween he was Link from Zelda. The humor is in the serendipitous classification.
To Caleb, everyone is either a good guy or a bad guy. And most everyone is a good guy. Except pirates and, apparently, Barack Obama. :pirate:
Well, daisy, if he’s true to his word, his first move will be to sign FOCA. And then, if Biden is true to his, he’ll be “tested” with a major international calamity. That’s change we can believe in!
cheryl, chill.
I thought what you said was right on the money. Don’t be discouraged by people who enjoy being nasty. Your kids are lucky to have a mom like you. :bigsmile:
Cheryl, I understand what you’re saying, but I think maybe you don’t know the history of these posts. Allison puts the funny things that her kids say on here. Caleb is just a little guy and says all sorts of funny things. I don’t think you should take it quite so seriously.
haaaaa! They should have had Caleb in the debate. I bet the result would be different!!!!
from the mouths of babes!! hee hee. my dh got a chuckle form this too.
hes too cute!
I apologize if I was being nasty –I didn’t think I was…? I wasn’t angry when I typed that, I was just…well…not sure what to think. To me it sounded like a mother was teaching her children that the new President was bad. And I think I can explain why I saw it this way:
I just started reading Mormon Momma 2 weeks ago and didn’t take the time to read all the archives. In light of Allison’s post on Obama (where I agreed with her; I don’t like Obama, either), and then this one, I was just taken aback. I had no idea how old her son was (I didn’t notice the “5” until just now) –I guess it was wrong of me to assume.
Interesting reactions to my comment. I’ll have to remember that in the future…
Orge is usually quite honory on this site… I think her’s was the only questionable reaction to your comment, so don’t be offended, she is that way with everyone 🙂 Which you will see if you do read through the archives.
Cheryl, welcome to Mormon Momma and the wonderful friendship that is here! You also will find that there can be somewhat heated discussions (often due to misunderstandings – normal on the internet). For what it’s worth, I didn’t see anything nasty or angry about what you said.
Everyone, Cheryl’s misunderstanding of this particular thread notwithstanding, she made a valid – and important – point to her children:
I believe we owe the same respect we would want and expect from the other side if things were reversed.
Isn’t it funny what comes from our childrens’ mouths? haha…
I too like what Cheryl did with her kids.
cheryl, no apology necessary. I wasn’t offended and didn’t think you were “nasty” but you did imply that I had done something to make Caleb hate Obama…or something. As you said, “To me it sounded like a mother was teaching her children that the new President was bad.” I was trying to explain how the post came to be. If I HAD been telling him Obama was bad, it wouldn’t have been funny to me. It would have been typical of kids, parroting their parents.
I’d love to discuss this further. Why don’t we “get angry” when “the other guy” wins? OK, except for the obvious issue on anger itself, why is it inappropriate to be dismayed, concerned, fearful, etc., if the person elected or the position ratified is utterly opposed to what you believe to be moral and good for the country?
Similarly, I hear the “respect” term thrown out a lot (particularly by democrats this week–who never showed an ounce of respect for President Bush). But what does it mean? That is not a rhetorical question by any means. When “respect for the office” is demanded, what does it entail?
As I’ve said before, I not only do NOT respect Obama’s position on abortion, but I find it so appalling as to be hard pressed to respect him in any sense. (As an extreme example, would you demand “respect” for Hitler, just because he held a leadership position?)
I think Hitler might have started with respect but through his decisions lost it. Same goes with Obama, he gets a certain amount for having the title… such respect as being addressed as Sir, Mr. President, Sir. The rest, IMO, has to be earned.
Well, it IS through his decisions and votes that he has lost my respect. I don’t have to wait for him to do something MORE evil. Except that would assume he had my respect before, but he didn’t, since I didn’t know him before. (And according to Tom Brokaw, we have no idea who he is even now.)
Anyway, if its just the use of the title, I have no problem with that. (I wasn’t planning to call him Mr. Poopy Pants or something.) But, honestly, I can’t imagine THAT is the only thing people really want when they say “respect the office.”
wow, I honestly laughed out loud at “mr. poopy pants”
Lewis, show some respect. It’s Mr. Poopy Pants with capital P’s!
Maybe it could be “oopy ants” with the P’s running down his pant legs? Sorry ’bout that, I just could not pass it up. Will anyone find the humor in this? Well I guess that…… “Depends”.
Come on now, I gotta’ find a wee ray of sunshine in the results of this election.
Wally
wow
Wally, I laughed and shook my head at the same time! 😉
Alison, just so you know, I’m not ignoring your question about respect. I’ve had sick kids this week and have worked more hours lately and am thinking of how to explain what I meant. I’ll get to it eventually… But I’m going to bed now, or *I* will be the next one getting sick!