A New Year through a Child's Eyes...

New Year's Eve is different things to different people. For some (early 20's folks), it is a time to go out on the town and kick up your well dressed heels. For others (late 30's crowd), maybe it is a nice dinner with friends and celebrating with the Californians before heading off to bed (ding ding ding - we have a winner!). Have you ever wondered what New Year's eve means to a toddler? Well thankfully the teacher at Jackson's school thought to ask her class about it. When I went to pick him up yesterday, I found the class bulletin board filled with papers where each child answered the questions she asked and she dutifully wrote down exactly what they said. I have talked to her before about another version of this exercise (remind me to tell you later about their "recipes for Thanksgiving" - hilarious) and I know she writes absolutely word-for-word what they say and doesn't try to explain the question in order to get a "right" answer. It's no accident that they used to have a whole television show based on the funny things that kids say because there were some laugh out loud funny responses. Here are Jackson's...

1. What does New Years Day mean? It is the first day of the first new year. [I know it seems like a straight forward easy question but there were very few kids who "got it". One kid put "It's a day to sleep"...(I'm guessing his parents were over 30 from my examples above and tried to pretend they were still in their early 20's)]
2. What do you want to do more of at school that you didn't do last year? I want to play more in the morning first. [Okay so my kid who seemed so smart after the first answer now thinks that he should have more time to play....learn - no, improve handwriting - no, better behavior - no... well okay good to know that our expectations are the same - hmmmm]
3. How old will you be this year? 5 [As all kids do, there were a couple kids who attempted to be more specific and add a "and a half" to their age. I can remember the week after Jackson's fourth birthday he told a neighborhood friend that he was "almost five".... close.]
4. What is your New Year's resolution for 2009? I want to go to church more. [This could be good or bad....either all his classmates parents will think that we NEVER go to church or we have a church that is so fun and it is back to the whole "more playing" thing again. I chose the later and personally I think it has something to do with the fact that he is only a few "attendance tickets" shy of one of the prizes he thinks is so cool.]
5. What did you do for New Years? I was sitting and throwing the football. [I didn't glance at the other answers on this very well but I can only hope every other kid's family was being equally as "lazy".]
6. What would you like to be when you grow up? First I will be a haircutter and then I'm gonna be a football player. [Okay seriously - where to start with this answer...."haircutter" - what!?! First let me say that he has never mentioned it before and I think it is only because of his new found obsession with Sportclips where his teenage cousin got him hooked on - watching sports while doing anything is right up his alley. Secondly, how do I break it to him that I don't know a single beauty school dropout that played football or even vice-versa. I know, I know - I don't break it to him....instead I just smile, chuckle to myself, and file this little paper away to pull out at the football banquet when he is a high school senior and embarrass him mercilessly! Incidentally, the most comment answer from his class was "teacher"...probably because they are lucky enough to have a GREAT one!]