On a hot summer day, some kids might think of setting up a lemonade stand in front of their house to earn a few extra quarters. Today, DS6, who has been absorbing my old collection of Peanuts cartoon books, carries a chair and a wooden box to the end of the driveway, and tapes up a sign that says "Psychiatric Help 5 Cents." He pins up another sign that says "The Doctor is in," and waits for customers. I couldn't say whether this is a sign of giftedness, and it certainly has not helped our reputation in the neighborhood, but it made my day.

In the end, he actually bestowed some decent advice - once his fee had been met - to my wife, me, and our neighbors. ('How do I stop siblings from quarreling?' 'Take them to the playground more; if they have more friends they might not fight as much.' 'How do I stop the squirrels from eating my bird food?' 'Have you tried putting up a squirrel feeder?')

I love it!!!!!!

Ask him how I can get jr to sleep through the night.

Hey, the kid is pretty good!

I'm loving it! Thanks for sharing. It's a great story.

YEs that is one for the record books!

I love it also. My son loves to act out the scences from the cartoons. In Charlie Brown Christmas, remember the line,"Pantaphobia, the fear of everything." Charlie says, that's it! You have to love peanuts.

Oh, I hope you got that one on video.....priceless!

LOL! That is adorable!

Hilarious! Thanks for sharing.

Austin, your son's common-sense advice reminds me of another silly story that happened ~15 years ago.

I was living overseas and the driver of a double-decker bus had attempted to go through a stone arch that was just a little bit too low. The bus got wedged in the arch and although it wasn't severely damaged, it was good and stuck.

The passengers got off and time passed. Many Wise Officials from the bus company and the city came and stared at the bus. They rubbed their chins, walked around the bus, climbed onto the roof, and stared and stared at the points where it was wedged. How do we get it out?

It was wedged too tightly to simply put it in reverse and drive out. The arch was very old and made with Very Large Stones and dismantling it was out of the question. Cutting the roof away would be time-consuming and, of course, would do serious damage to the bus.

Meanwhile, rush hour was coming, and the bus was blocking an important road. What to do? What to do? The Wise Officials rubbed their chins some more and thought and thought and thought about the problem.

Then the neighbor of a friend passed by, out for a stroll with his five-year-old daughter. He told her what had happened. She looked at the scene and said, loud enough for the Wise Officials to hear, "Daddy, why can't they just let the air out of the tires?"

Needless to say, the bus was freed immediately and the red-faced officials went home feeling very foolish indeed.

Val

AM: Pentaphobia was one of DS's favorite scenes to reenact for a while, too.

I went through a period of worrying whether Charlie Brown is age appropriate for him (he went through a Calvin and Hobbes phase at age 5 that was murderous - we finally had to hide the books!), but then I realized that, if we read the books together, there is much rich material for chatting and thoughtful interaction.

At this time, DS is channeling Sally very usefully to help him cope with his entering first grade anxiety.

By the way, Val, I am Ian ('fitzi'). Your story is a classic.

Calvin may be the ltimate GT child. He seems to be 5 years old going on 12.

I took a personality test 15 years ago and landed in the same group as Calvin. I was exceptionally pleased with that result.

As for the developmental thing, I am in my 40s going on 12.

Val!

Yeah, I've always had a weakness for ol' Cal.

During his Calvin and Hobbes phase, DS took to writing notes to me and DW saying "Dear (Mom/Dad): I hate you, drop dead!" Of course this is verbatim from a valentine that Calvin gives Susie, and we took it in the same spirit. Needless to say, however, we tend to select these notes out of the portfolio we present during school interviews.

Unfortunately, this mode of self expression was not well-received by his age-level playmates, and so, ultimately, we were compelled to keep these books away from him.

Your son is so funny! I would be charmed to receive such a note. I love Calvin and Hobbes and forgot about them. I'll have to dig them out for DS4. I think there's a part when he learns there's not santy claus, i'll have to hide that one for awhile. DS4 is in that in between not quite sure phase with magic stuff. My mom was playing a game with him where they built castles with moon sand, and she was hiding some small trinket in it without DS seeing. I think he truly believed the moon sand was magic! Even though they were his own toys, he would say, "look! now i have another one of these!"

Your son is hilarious. I love his replies. May be next time I have a problem with my children, I should contact your son

DS has been leaving us notes since he was 4. His first was "I have gone out make hot chocolate if I am scared I will call you" A classic was "Dear Mom: I love you. When will you make more cookies?" "Dear Dad, I hate you, drop dead." is taped up to the wall next to my bed. Now if he could just grasp a wee bit of linear thinking, we would be doing well.

The psychiatrist thing is turning out to be a useful role-playing/communication device, actually. I tell the psychiatrist I can't figure out what my son would like to do, for example, and he comes up with a couple of good ideas.

So, is that reverse psychiatry you're doing there?

Had to search for this thread after being gone for a week. Fitzi - those notes are hilarious! Keepers for sure.

I have to report that I did find the calvin and hobbes books and read a bit to DS4 last week. This morning, he gets up and says, "where's that calvin and hobbes book? I need to look for some ideas for mischief." (And for the first time ever, I spotted him reading a book by himself - so i'm still weighing the positives and negatives with this one!) And last week at the grocery store, he quoted Calvin while he was sitting in the cart: "Mom, go really fast and then let go!" I can only hope that someday we'll get a note like yours.

That's great!!!

My DS-then-5 did something Calvin would have been proud of last November. The kindergarten kids were making "I am thankful for..." drawings that were laminated and turned into placemats.

All the other kids drew pictures of their families or their pets or best friends. My DS5 covered the paper with dinosaurs (he's been mad into them since well before he was 2) and wrote

"I am thankful for dino2aur2" (those 2s are backward s's).

The teacher looked a bit aghast, but we hung it prominently on the wall and it remains there.

Val

I have one to add.

Playdate to play a game called Enchanted Slipper. DD was excited the other girl was bringing it over since she is so into princesses and heard about the game.

DD, the other girl and the other mother are playing. I decided to watch, to keep the game moving. At first it does since you have to collect cards and landing on things makes something happen. Then you are landing, already have the card and you just wait for your turn and soon you are just trying to land on a certain space and it gets a little boring.

DD has her head in her hands and in a perfect Eeyore voice, says "I kinda feel like Eeyore".

Ren

What happened next?!?

Val

This is a beaut, Pauli; I love it that he is using 'mischief' at 4! I think we finally hid the books after we caught DS (then 5) wandering towards the coffee table one day carrying a hammer and a handful of nails (in one of the CH cartoons, Calvin pounds a large quantity of nails into the coffee table).

DS's (now 6) latest, BTW, came when we forgot to take him out for a promised pancake breakfast last weekend. When he realized we'd goofed, he told DW in ringing tones "You owe me restitution!" (borrowed from Peanuts' Sally). We rendered restitution the following morning.

Val,

She had deadpanned perfectly that the other mother cracked up. So that is the story.

It isn't Calvin & Hobbs or Peanuts, but I thought in the theme.

Ren

I love all these stories! How can you not laugh? (well, except for fitzi and DW when the hammer and nails were getting close to the coffee table...)

We laughed - after we'd hidden the books!