Wednesday, January 30, 2008

You Get What You Get...

There are little words of wisdom that come from all over the place that we incorporate into our lives to help us make sense of what we perceive to be our reality and what we try to teach our children. One of my favorites is from Dina. When her kids say, "Mom, I'm thirsty." She responds with, "Hi Thirsty, I'm Friday, come over Saturday and we'll have a Sundae." Perfect. In other words, don't tell me your problem. Instead, offer a solution that I can help you with such as, "Mom, may I have some juice?"

And then there are those wonderful words that come out of our mouths that make absolutely no sense whatsoever and we wonder where we ever heard such things and still it comes out as if saying such things will make any difference except maybe to prove how idiotic we can be. You know what I'm talking about. Junk like, "If you fall out of that tree and break your leg, don't come running to me."

Well, Colin came home today with a little saying I've not heard before but when he said it, I thought, "Brilliant."

"You get what you get, you don't throw a fit."

Run that by me again.... Excellent. Then he said, "That's what Miss Cathy says all the time." with a little smile. As if, he's heard it a number of times personally.

I love it! Gonna start using that one.

6 comments:

Gloria Furman said...

My dad always said "You live 'til you die" whenever we got hurt-- bumped knees, scratches, trips and falls, etc. It always made good sense and we'd stop whining about the boo-boo whatever it was!

Kristi said...

OH Celeste...we must use that quote 10 times a day. Isn't it the best? I learned it from my friend Sarah who is a teacher. I too thought it was brilliant. And admist Haley's tears (whilst throwing a fit), I will say, "You get what you get...and she sobs back "aaannd yoouuu don't thhrooow a fiiiit." (that's her sobbing.)

Kim and JD said...

Funny enough we use both of those... at Tylers 5th Birthday party all the kids were whining about what color cupcake they wanted and one of the boys blurted the " you get what you get ...." we all just cracked up and have used it ever since. I also the the Hi I'm thirsty one and another one I do is, "Hi thirsty, nice to meet you my name is Mommy" Or when they say., "I CAAAANNN"TTT", I say "Cant never could" Oh, I guess I could go on for days.... It is nice to learn these little sayings from eqach other and they actually do work sometimes.

Jennifer and Michael said...

I just spent a little while catching up on the latest happenings of the Cunninghams. My favorite by far is the one where Colin says the he's thinking he's cute. I really miss you guys. I can't wait to see you again. I hear Seaside calling.

Andi and Michael said...

We use that saying around our house often. Or, should I say, the kids use that saying with each other often. In other words, if you don't like the toy you have in your hand, then don't come stealin' mine!

chantyiam said...

AWE... I just love it. The Friday Saturday Sundae thing first, and second, "Ya get what Ya get, don't throw a fit!" LOVE IT!!!!! I'm adopting it, I'm using it, I'm loving it, I'm living...ur, um, well, I'ma try ta live it, but ... it'll definetly be fun USING it! Let's start there! Ha!

btw - I never got the irony of that fallin out of a tree don't come runnin to me thing till now. Hmm... That's funny. I can't really think of any cute sayings we grew up on... does "quit your cryin before I give you somethin to cry about" fit in??... nah