I Had a Good Day

     It follows that the story of bestest now needs to be told. This is another word we used at home that was not generally considered grammatically correct out in the real world. Spellcheck still highlights it as something that needs to be fixed, but there are definitions in google for bestest, so I guess for now, it is probably in the category of slang.

       One of the parenting tips I read somewhere when my girls were very young was to ask each child the very best thing and the worst thing to have happened that day. This was a good conversation starter, and the kids got used to thinking throughout the day about which things they will talk about when Mom sprang the question.

       My Mom had Wednesday afternoons off from her job at the law office when I myself was young. I would be very excited every Wednesday coming home from school because I knew Mom would be there. I guess just her being there was comforting, because my excitement certainly was not for the conversation – and that was my fault. Mom would ask what was new or what did I learn at school that day, and I would invariably answer, “Nothing.” I thought she would not be interested in what had been specifically taught nor would she care about the gossip from the lunch table (which might also lead to her derision) – and since I could not think of anything else nor did I want to spend the energy on a thought-filled response, it was easy to just say “nothing.” Eventually Mom wondered if that was indeed what was happening at the schools – nothing - which is exactly what my father concluded whenever he saw me adding the score for pinochle - “what kind of math are they teaching you at that school anyway?”

       (I chuckle over all the complaints about today's new math – we had new math, a different new math, when I was in school – I can only conclude nowadays that new math is never new, nor is it ever accepted. It is just dissed by each previous generation in each previous generation's own way!)

      So I thought the what was the best part of your day and what was the worst questions might be better at inducing conversation from my own kids after school than what's new or what did you learn today? And they worked very well. We usually only spoke about the bestest thing today and did not focus on the worstest unless the latter was something that had totally overpowered the whole day.

       After a while Sarah would get to telling me her entire day in intricate detail. She would start with the line, “I had a good day,” and then she'd continue on with all the specifics. “First Mom woke me up and I waved goodbye to her from my window....” Sarah could take a long time getting through her day – I would try to listen attentively so as to ask questions afterward about things that might be important. Amanda was the opposite – she was not one to expound upon her day or even volunteer her bestest – but she did know how much it meant to me to hear what she had to say – so when Amanda wanted to share, she was articulate about her bestests.

       Nowadays I will ask Virginia and Horatio about the bestest thing in their day. Virginia has said, “Playing princess of the castle on the playground,” while Horatio has exuberantly responded, “Soccer!” Sometimes I will ask Mike, and sometimes his answer is “Coming home to you.”

       Dwelling on the bestests make for a good life and happy memories.

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