By Rosie Moore

This title alludes to the ear-shaped handles common on pitchers used for serving liquids. It is also customary to refer to small children who often hear more of what is said than adults realize or desire. Children tell you things that you never knew before. I  recently had a great-grand child tell me that “frogs don’t burp.” I said, “how do you know?”

He said, “I don’t know, I just know that they don’t.” Children are full of knowledge that we adults don’t understand where in the world it came from.

“Out of the mouths of babes” comes some funny sayings, such as: “Can I have a new Mommy? You say ‘no’ too much.” From a four-year old

“Daddy works to make money to buy me toys.” Age 3

“Mommy, I’m not made for making my bed.” 7-year-old boy.

I’m sure many of you have watched the TV show “Kids Say the Darndest Things” with Art Linkletter… and Bill Cosby. The children that Art questioned nearly always had him in stitches or with a questioning expression on his face.

Art was born in Canada in 1912 where his biological parents abandoned him  on the doorstep of a local church. He was adopted by an itinerant preacher and his wife, who eventually settled in California when Art was three years old. After high school graduation he drifted from state to state earning his keep as a  meat packer and a busboy. He finally enrolled at San Diego college where he was hired as a radio announcer during his junior year for a local station. Upon graduation he gave up his idea of becoming a teacher. For the remainder of the 1930s he continued to develop his craft and in 1942 he ventured to Hollywood to explore other opportunities in the entertainment industry.

He made headlines under tragic circumstances in 1969 when his daughter committed suicide while experimenting with LSD. Ten years later his son, age 35, was killed in a car crash. Plagued by misfortune he began a lifelong crusade against drug abuse,  making more than 20 speeches a year on the lecture circuit.

If you have a computer you can watch many clips of Mr. Linkletter’s shows on TV. One of my favorite comical episodes is when he asked an adorable little girl, “How do you spell Art?”

She replied, “R-A-T.” The look on his face showed hilarity at her answer. He passed away 2010 at the age of ninety-seven.

My granddaughter told me her five-year-old son said to her one day, “I don’t think so, young girl.”  She had to wonder???

I  want to digress and add that I hope there’s a special room in Hades for people who abuse a child in any way, shape, or form. I dread reading the daily news in the paper about all the people who mistreat  God’s little ones. For in His book He says, “Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” In fact, this verse is mentioned in both Matthew and Mark. So treat these special little people with love, compassion and understanding so that they grow up to  have those same qualities. They have to put up with so much with this erring world of today.

Thought for the day: One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.  Sigmund Freud

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