There comes a stage when our kids start to develop superpowers as a direct result of trying to live with their strange and ancient parents. It’s the power of second guessing, otherwise known as the power to interpret muppet parents. Maybe it’s the result of too many sleepless nights, too many family crises, too many additions to the ‘to do list’. Maybe it’s not enough caffeine, too much mind numbing tv but often parents function with only 90% of the words they know, the other 10% is either randomly lost or corrupted. The end result is we often don’t make sense and yet our kids can somehow make sense of the rubbish that sometimes comes out of our mouths.

Example one of those superpower from our house…

Asking Hawklad what he wanted for tea… “do you want thingy and chips”. Seamlessly he replies “yes I’ll have an omelette but maybe with vegetables…”

Example two of the superpower….

Asking Hawklad “have you seen the erm, you know”. Without taking his eyes of his book, he points to the sofa, “the remote control is there”…

Example three….

In the car, we were talking history and Hawklad mentioned Theodore Roosevelt. His muppet dad immediately butted in with his Einstein like intellect….

“Theodore, wasn’t he one of the hamsters in that tv thing…”

Almost without blinking Hawklad replied

“You mean Chipmunk…. Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks..”

I was surprisingly close, Theodore was a rodent. As we don’t get chipmunks here, maybe we need a British version of that show. Harry and the Hamsters. Rather than singing pop songs badly, The Hamsters could recite Shakespeare really badly with annoying high pitch voices.

Example four….

“Erm, you had a {…. mumbling as I fight with the vacuum cleaner, …}, erm Whatsaface {…. more mumbling as I’m distracted by the vacuum cleaner bag emptying its contents onto the floor…}, don’t forget”

Hawklad somehow understood what I was trying to say and he went to phone a friend who had called him earlier….

BUT here is the thing, it’s a selective superpower that our children wield. The power seems to fail if the parent starts talking homework, housework or personal grooming…….

40 thoughts on “Powers”

  2. Selective is the key word! My three are grown and gone and that’s how our chats and phone conversations go. I confess I will sometimes stutter and stammer on purpose – 😄 – to call them out. They KNOW what I’m referring to but will skate around the subject or change the topic!

    Never underestimate the super powers of parents! 😉😄

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  8. You must be writing these tidbits down. No wonder your blog is such a delight to read!
    (And if you aren’t writing them down, all I can say is, I envy your, erm, you know, that part of your brain, erm …)

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  10. OMG, I never thought about it but I recognize myself in your stories… 😂I think the kids develop that superpower to simply survive us… lol

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  11. I had a manager once who when asked for a favour that meant bending the rules would say “just give me deniability”. I think it’s in the same camp as selective comprehension or hearing! Harry and the Hamsters…would be good.

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  12. It’s wonderful and sweetly endearing how he can complete your sentences for you. That speaks to your love and bond… and your muppetness too! 💕😆

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