Out of the mouths of babes . . .

I received an e-mail from Fred M. giving examples of what young children had written for school about the sea. Included were these gems:

• An octopus has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6)
• Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)
• Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson. She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6)
• My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6)
• When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7)
• Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6)
• I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6)
• Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves into chargers. (Christopher, age 7)
• The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)
• My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean. What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)

Peter