“Heard on the Playground” Worth Repeating

You would think a woman who has four college degrees would always feel like the smartest person in the room. Yet, Andrea Sherr finds being a mother of three kids under age 10 means she’s outsmarted on a daily basis — a relatable feeling for any parent left speechless at what comes out of the mouths of babes. Last year, Sherr began compiling “kiddisms” from her own children and others on her website www.heardontheplayground.com. At first, it was simply a labor of love, with Sherr working late into the night reading and laughing.

Other than selling some T-shirts with the quotes, she didn’t have a long-term revenue strategy. Then she decided to turn it into a book called Heard on the Playground – Funny Things Kids Say. This book is an ideal gift for new and experienced moms because as Sherr says, “Motherhood is challenging but at least now I can laugh about it with others.”

In addition to the clever truths spouted by the children included in her book about cringe and laugh-inducing categories like Body (a kid declaring snot is Spanish for boogers); Family (Mom says waiting on her kids hand and foot makes her feel like a “lousy maid” and the little bundle of joy replies “No Mom, you’re a really good maid”); Pregnancy (informing people he had to cut his playdate short because of “plumbing problems” resulting from his mom’s water breaking); Religion (“Baptism is when you get your sins washed out of your hair”); and the Birds and the Bees (“Want to understand the board game? Just look at the erections and figure it out”).

Sherr has also included children’s drawings to accompany the stories. In some cases, they’re funnier than the words themselves. She largely used her own children (bribed heavily with toys and trips to water parks) and some students at Detroit Country Day School to do the illustrations which are perfectly on theme.

Sherr’s tome even manages to make death funny. A poignant anecdote includes a little one’s confusion over a typical adult exchange between her father and a neighbor who had just lost her husband. This anonymous child took the logic leap and asked why did daddy kill the neighbor’s husband? When asked why she thought that she simply replied, “Because Daddy said he was sorry.”

Sherr may be a woman with an intimidating résumé, but at the end of the day she’s everymom and that’s what makes this book relatable for anyone who loves kids despite the bad days. As she says in her Introduction, “I’m that Mom who drives in my nightgown at 11 pm to pick up a casualty from a sleepover that went awry.” And that’s exactly the kind of mom who will chuckle at pictures depicting a real minute versus a Mommy Minute. Or the one accompanying an anecdote about a newly purchased pair of underwear featuring a beloved cartoon character that prompted a little girl to shout to all who would listen,“Who wants to see my Woody?”

Somehow it’s easier to laugh when these blush-worthy moments are shared and shared alike. Or as Sherr puts it in her introduction, “Come on people, humor is the only thing at these moments that keeps me from doing a reenactment of ‘The Shining’ or ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’.”

Carry this book and its accompanying wisdom where you display parent gifts or as an idea for a grandparent or caregiver. Teachers will also get a kick out of this as a holiday gift. And let customers know they can continue to give their anecdotes at www.heardontheplayground.com