The bluntness of preschoolers should never be underestimated. My child, for example, has pointed out in various public forums that my butt jiggles, I smell gross after I exercise (prompted by a jiggly-butt panic) and that I have really big dark circles under my eyes. Thanks, punkin'! Anyway, I'm glad I never asked her about aging, because I've already spent enough time rubbing eye cream on my crow's feet to have to get a whole new complex about what's around the corner.
BoingBoing found these
kids shared freely about what happens when
you get old, and man, is it brutal.
My favorites:
"You get older, your shrink and
your body is scribbly." Crap, I forgot about the shrinking. I already have evidence of the scribbly.
"They get smushy skin." Great. Now I'm equating aging with those films where they speed up the decay of an orange and it goes from this plump orb to the smushy blob of fertilizer.
"First they start smooth and when
they are going to die they get
pruney. They are old." Just so you know, wrinkles and death are the big themes. Lots of death. Which starts to sound like sweet relief after you read the other descriptions of aging.
"Heaven is a place where all
animals go. People's heaven is
under ground." Like people's heaven is hell? Somebody call PETA, because I believe you have a new recruit.
Oh and favorite accompanying art is by Ashley, who says, "My grandfather has white hair
and scribble scrabble on his
hands" but the mournful figure in the picture seems to say, "Help me..."
