Fun with the Hard of Hearing

Say What?

Some of my funniest moments come from misunderstandings.  One of my favorite stories comes from when my daughter was about five years old.  She was at the front of the church with a group of young children listening to the 'children's sermon' which is a story told to the young kids during church at their level.  I have often found these mini lessons to be my favorite part of the service - I have always been a child at heart and it was a hard day for me when I realized I was too old to go up for them!  

This night the lesson was about handling stress - a great lesson - right?  Well, when the Children's Minister asked the group of young children this question "Who knows what is a burden?" 

I was a proud mother when my daughter, who had always been well ahead of the curve with her vocabulary, raised her hand with confidence.  Of course she would know!  I was proud of myself too for never talking down to her and always explaining what hard words meant.  As the microphone was placed in front of her little mouth she said in her matter of fact way "A nest!"  

Well, not wanting to correct a child who was willing to talk and who seemed so sure of her answer, the Children's Minister said after a bit of a pause..."Ok, anyone else have an answer?"  The proper answer was soon given, but slowly people began to giggle then some even started all out laughing.  Many didn't start giggling until quite a while later as they all realized that my little girl had answered the question correctly but no one understood right away because we were all thinking of the church answer.  My daughter gave a natural answer to an obvious question - she didn't know why the other children hadn't answered sooner too.  Didn't everyone know? ........ What else would you find a bird in?

Asked and answered!