What is in a kiss?

January 12, 2007 at 9:48 pm by · Filed under General

Yesterday when we were having dinner, my three-and-a-half year old niece who is in play school made an announcement, “Today Ritwick kissed me on the mouth!”

While her mother was shocked and horrified, and my brother and I were amazed and amused, her brother, my five-and-a-half year old nephew, was totally unfazed. He told his sister in a stern voice that it was not acceptable to get kissed on the mouth.

“Only people who are married can do that,” he told her. “Don’t repeat it,” he added in a very stern voice.

I couldn’t stop laughing. Then he warned me too. “The rule applies to you too…” he said. According to him the only people in our house who have the right to kiss on the mouth are his mom and dad as they are married.

Suddenly all of us were laughing our hearts out. “At least he has got the facts right,” commented my brother.

“Where did you learn all these rules?” I asked my nephew. “I saw it on the TV; you should watch other programs also, rather than just watching the news,” he advised. I nodded my agreement.

Now the amount of information the kids have is simply amazing. Then I remembered Anjali’s post—The Y Generation. When I told about that we had another round of laughter but we forgot the kids were listening.

Now my nephew knows the ‘World’s Shortest Nursery Rhyme!” I hope he does not share his knowledge with his classmates…

24 Comments

  1. lalitha said,

    January 13, 2007 at 12:32 am

    That was so cute.He does have the facts right. Nowadays kids learn so much from TV.its unbelievable.How are you Alex. have a good weekend.take care.

  2. Alexis Leon said,

    January 13, 2007 at 12:40 am

    Thanks Lalitha. I am fine. I used to read your blog. Nice to know that you have recovered and had a nice holiday. I wish you and your family a very happy, prosperous and successful 2007.

  3. thanu said,

    January 13, 2007 at 1:16 am

    Kids these times have the know so much more than we did. I hope ur nephew waits till he is married to kiss on the lips.

  4. mathew said,

    January 13, 2007 at 2:51 am

    Lol..This kid is a genius..

    WIth the level of adv ancement we see now..i guess kids would be starting to blog from kindergarden..

    @Anju

    See what a blog entry is doin…You are christening a nice paavam kid to “short nursery rhymes”!!`:-P

  5. Anju said,

    January 13, 2007 at 7:29 am

    That guy…is THE MAN!!! I am really impressed and I mean it!
    He sure has got his facts right. I wish all the little men in the making take a leaf out of your nephews book. Please tell him that he has a fan in me and my friends and that is a fan following of 13 girls already 🙂 Now beat that!

    “you should watch other programs also, rather than just watching the news” ROFLMAO

    This guy is tooooooooooo cute!!! 🙂

  6. Anju said,

    January 13, 2007 at 7:31 am

    @mathew: Blame his uncle for that :p I myself was “educated” by an 8 year old!! 😉

  7. Sreejith Kumar said,

    January 13, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    Absolutely great! Children are so ‘innocent’ most times! 😛

  8. Chackochan said,

    January 13, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    My God…

    [:D]… i don’t have any comments about these new generation kids

  9. Paresh said,

    January 13, 2007 at 4:32 pm

    Hehehe! This post was worth the wait! I thought you were the most intelligent & evolved person I know :d Now, I know it is because of the company you keep. 🙂

    And, what kind of programmes does your nephew watch?

    BTW, was he by any chance a member of the moral brigade that troubled Kushboo in Tamil Nadu? 😛

  10. sujit said,

    January 14, 2007 at 2:31 am

    yup!.. kids are quite intelligent!.. information profusing from all directions! 🙂

  11. riotofreasons said,

    January 14, 2007 at 3:25 am

    That was one cool nursery rhyme 🙂

  12. Anon1 said,

    January 14, 2007 at 11:10 am

    All kids will start out holding on to such principles as all of us know very well….the only problem is keeping it when he is 21 and has a girlfriend.

  13. Alexis Leon said,

    January 14, 2007 at 12:25 pm

    thanu: Yes, they definitely do. But I am not very sure about the second part 🙂

    mathew: I hope not 🙂

    Anju: I will pass on the message 😉 He is brutally frank too. He once introduced me very matter-of-factly. “This is my Aachachen. He will not be able to get up from the wheelchair until he dies, unless God decides otherwise…” Everybody in the room was shell shocked. My brother, his wife and I, who are quite used to his such shocking revelations, were the only ones who couldn’t stop laughing.

    Sreejith: Very true…

    Chackochan: Better get used to the fact that the new generation is a lot different.

    Paresh: Thanks Paresh. He mainly watches Cartoon Network, Pogo, Nat Geo, Animal Planet and good movies. But he asks a lot of questions and we try to answer them truthfully. It is better to learn the facts rather than some twisted exaggerations from others.

    sujit: True and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The best way to counter it is to give them facts so that they won’t get confused.

    riotofreasons: Yes, I agree; but you should thank Anjali for that.

    Anon1: That’s life 🙂

  14. Jagu... said,

    January 14, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    Hello Alexis,

    Long time I Know. Just didnot have the kind of vacation I was looking forward to. But I have already got my tickets for a small break from Feb 20th and I am Landing at Cochin. For sure I would come and meet you this time :). And I have couple of lil Angel’s in the family and they do make me think twice before I utter anything in front of them. They pick up stuff so fast!!

  15. sujit said,

    January 15, 2007 at 6:23 am

    true to tell facts is good, but can they comprehend the facts at this age, is the question. However, “age” is a relative term..! depends on the person.. i think so!

  16. Alexis Leon said,

    January 15, 2007 at 10:15 am

    Jagu: See you in Cochin. Yes, they do; one has to be very careful while talking to them or talking when the kids are around.

    Sujit: Age is definitely relative. A lot depends on the people involved–the kid who is listening and the adults who explain the things. One can explain most of the queries truthfully, without telling the whole truth in a way that the kids will understand

  17. anu said,

    January 15, 2007 at 9:08 pm

    lol..!
    smart kid
    :))

  18. Jo said,

    January 15, 2007 at 11:25 pm

    Haha.. 😀

    True Alexis. Kids amaze us always and as long as the kids do not pick the wrong messages from the TV, its fine. 🙂

  19. Jay said,

    January 16, 2007 at 10:10 am

    Very true! We tend to underestimate the learning power and curiosity children has! They are bombarded with information and they absorb everything.

    I am impressed by his advice to you – “Watch something other than news as well” 😀

  20. flyawaymind said,

    January 16, 2007 at 11:30 am

    heehe..quite funny..so these days kids are ‘educating’ you…’with all their childish innocense ,they talk about the not-so-childish stuff

  21. Alexis Leon said,

    January 16, 2007 at 11:30 am

    anu: Thanks.

    Jo: We monitor the programs that the kids watch.

    Jay: The advice to watch other programs is because, 95% of the time, I watch only the news, so when he comes to my room and asks to change the channel, I won’t allow it. So he is a little miffed about it.

  22. James Bright said,

    January 17, 2007 at 3:46 am

    That was so funny.
    I enjoyed that.
    The kids are no more the same like that of in those olden days!
    Nice to see your new post again.
    I am very sorry for my delayed response.
    Take care.
    James.

  23. Alexis Leon said,

    January 19, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    James: Thanks James. Yes, today’s kids are very different. The information explosion has changed the childhood.

  24. synapse said,

    January 27, 2007 at 3:45 pm

    sure is an intelligent kid! you never know what they are gonna say next