American TV personality Art Linkletter first coined the phrase: “Kids say the darndest things.”
Boy, did he get that right.
Art dined out on his cute interviews with kids for about 25 years and we were privileged to giggle along in the early days of South African television.
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His books were also best sellers.
With all the dramas of the modern world and local politicians stirring up a storm in the buildup to next year’s general election, one can’t help yearning for more witticisms from developing, wise young minds on our screens today.
After all, ‘laughter is the best medicine’… and Art is proof of that. He died in 2010 at the ripe old age of 97.
For starters, my grandson, Ben would be a prime candidate.
This past Heritage Day, his mom and dad had invited family over for the traditional ‘brrraaaai’.
Mom: “Right… let’s see what we can do to make the house a bit more pleasant for our visitors tomorrow.”
Ben: “Well… I guess we’re going to have to lose Pickle (the dog).”
Ben is four, going on 40.
His mom was quite taken aback recently when the mom of a child at the same school phoned to thank Ben for being kind to her daughter.
Huh?
“Yes,” says Ben. “All the other kids don’t like her because she drools and they say she’s gross. But I thought I’d give her a chance and she’s a wonderful person.”
Of course, television presenters might have to be a bit more careful with children of today as innocence is sadly lost at an early age.
For example, a Margate teacher tells the story about one of her grade one kids whom she caught shouting to others on the playground: “VOETSEK!”
“Hey,” remonstrated the teacher, “that’s not very nice.”
The child broke down in tears and replied indignantly: “But I didn’t tell them to f… off!”
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