What Number Are You?

This morning I had to run to the store to finish the soccer snacks. I woke up realizing that I had forgotten the oranges. Usually when I dash off to the grocery store one or two kiddos run out to the car. But it was still early (6 am) so there was only one store companion with me. The checkers know me and the kids and the older girls are, often, in the store on their own. This morning the checker greeted me and then looked at Maddi and said, “What number are you?”. She really didn’t know how to answer. She just looked at him with a funny look on her face. I explained to her that he wanted to know what # in the family line-up she is.

This is always a funny question. My kids never know how to answer it because they aren’t referred to by #. We use their names because we know their names and their personalities and what’s happening with each kiddo in each day. The “What # are you” question is a bit dehumanizing. It lends to the attitude that because I am Mommy of Many children, that I would just slap a number on them and dish out bowls of food and clothing as if they were the nameless masses.

I’m glad my kids don’t automatically know what number they are and I can only hope to keep giving them the personal and individual attention that they’ve come to rely on.

Have a great day~

This entry was posted on November 8, 2009 at 9:25 am and is filed under children, family life, frustrating, kids, mom, siblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.