Poop on a Stick

GoofBoy has been sluggish at getting up in the morning recently. But no longer, he wakes up bright and early to play with his new DS. This morning Mama Goof asked me, “How did kids survive before electronics?”

I guess she has forgotten her own childhood, which featured holding a tape recorder up to the TV to record favorite shows. Our generation had electronics; they just were just really pathetic.

“Hoop and a stick,” I answered referring to our running joke about my mom’s favorite toy. I frequently regale the little Goofs with tales of how their grandmother is familiar with ancient history. When the children ask a question about 19th century President Chester Allen Arthur (it happens) I tell them, “Bubbe remembers him, you should ask her she can tell you stories. His train passed through her town once.”

The little Goofs are shocked to hear that Bubbe didn’t have a TV, when they ask me what she did for fun, I tell them she used to play with a hoop and a stick.*

MamaGoof burst into laughter, “Poop on a stick? Who would play with that?”

“You don’t know much about boys do you?” I continued in a little boy voice, “‘Yea, there’s some poop! Let’s poke it with a stick!’ Anyway I said hoop and a stick.”

GoofBoy rushed into the kitchen, DS earbuds still implanted, asking excitedly “Is there poop in the yard? Can we go out and poke it with a stick?”

“He heard that okay,” Mama Goof noted sardonically.

“Boys, that’s how they roll.”


*When the children asked their grandmother about not having a TV growing up she told them they didn’t have a TV because my mom and her sister used to fight over which shows to watch, so her dad got rid of the TV. This perplexes the little Goofs even more, “Why didn’t she just go upstairs and watch there?”

The idea that a house might have but a single electronic screen is simply beyond their comprehension.