Monday, September 16, 2013

What’s the right answer?


Elliot recently moved up to a new class at his school, and one of the great things the teachers do for the parents is place this little white board at the entrance to the class. Every few days they ask a question to the class and post their hilarious responses. Normally the questions lend themselves to comedy – such as “where do you live?” As you might imagine, the answers that the fertile brains of 2-year-olds came up with was something to behold.

This particular day the question was cut and dried, but as you can see, the results are priceless. Every single kid in the class answered correctly…except my son.

As any good parent would do, I instantly saw the comedic gold and began sharing this image with friends and family through text, social media and email. What became funnier that the image itself was the varied responses I received. Each response fit nicely into one of four basic categories.

First you had what I like to call the “high fives.” These responses were almost exclusively reserved for the 30-something male who quickly deciphered that Elliot was doing his own comedy routine and using the powerful comedic tool of going against the grain. They were so impressed at how funny he was and were commending me for raising such a funny boy.

The second group were what I’ll call the “over thinkers.” This group saw way too much meaning in one little picture. Using this one image, they decided that Elliot was a strong-willed man of conviction who wouldn’t easily let a crowd dictate what he should think. He would clearly never be one to participate in group think because, yes, he was an individual of the strongest moral fiber. I have to say that this is a very impressive way to spin Elliot’s lack of a basic grasp on human anatomy.

Then you had the “dreamers,” who concocted fabulous stories about how Elliot could clearly see sound waves.  It was obvious to them that he had some magical power making him far superior to other kids, and, indeed, he was able to “hear” with his eyes. As you can imagine, this group mainly consisted of our creative friends.

Then there was my personal favorite, the “sympathizers.” This group mainly consisted of our friends who don’t have kids and genuinely felt bad for poor Elliot getting the answer wrong. They empathized about how he must have felt in his class that day. Little do they know that at age2 ½, embarrassment is a foreign concept. Elliot’s main goal in life is get to loose and run out in public wearing only a diaper. Do you really think a little thing like a wrong answer is going to faze him?

And finally there was the response of my mom, which cannot be categorized. Her main concern was that Elliot did in fact know that he hears with his ears and felt the need to prove it immediately. She came to visit the next day for her usual Wednesday date and hadn’t been in the house 30 seconds when I caught her intently looking in his eyes, saying, “Now, Elliot, you hear with your ears, don’t you?” He just looked at her and smiled and, with a little sarcastic glimmer said, “No. You hear with your eyes.”

Jordan Echols is a Communication & Image Zone Manager with Texas Health Resources and Dad to independent thinker Elliot.
Jordan Echols is a Communication & Image Zone Manager with Texas Health Resources and Dad to talker Elliot.  - See more at: http://texashealthmoms.blogspot.com/2013/04/life-with-narrator.html#sthash.yUV90D1A.dpuf
Jordan Echols is a Communication & Image Zone Manager with Texas Health Resources and Dad to talker Elliot.  - See more at: http://texashealthmoms.blogspot.com/2013/04/life-with-narrator.html#sthash.yUV90D1A.dpuf
Jordan Echols is a Communication & Image Zone Manager with Texas Health Resources and Dad to talker Elliot.  - See more at: http://texashealthmoms.blogspot.com/2013/04/life-with-narrator.html#sthash.yUV90D1A.dpuf

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