Three-Year-Olds Have Fun

by John C. Westervelt

While playing in the preschool kitchen area with his three-year-old girl friend, Tanner was calling her "hon" (honey). In time I decided that Tanner was not monogamous because, in a little while, a different girl became his wife and received the endearing salutation "hon." And then there was a third. When at one point his wife was not playing his way, Tanner crossed his arms on his chest and said, "I am disappointed in you."

Later in the circle when Miss Helen was struggling with the tangled strings of a puppet, this same loquacious little boy said, "Miss Helen, you are hyper." These children are not disrespectful, and Tanner had no intention of being such. His comment was spoken in love to his teacher.

At our Valentine’s Day party, I visited with Tanner’s mother. I could see from her shy smile when I told her about Tanner’s use of the word "disappointed", that she speaks that long word to her son at times. She said that it was Tanner’s grandfather who sometimes says, "Tanner, you are hyper." As you guessed, her husband calls her "hon". Even though Tanner can’t read yet, he is beginning to understand Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her."