She would have enjoyed cooking, if only it weren’t for her children

I got chatting to a woman who said she would have enjoyed cooking, if only it weren’t for her children. They were picky about eating lots of things, including onions, and this put her off trying new recipes because ‘what recipe doesn’t start with an onion?’

B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023), 4

During the war I hadn't seen a single child's thing. I forgot they existed.

In the ruins of q German village I saw a child's bicycle lying about. I was happy. I got on it and rode. It rode so well! During the war I hadn't seen a single child's thing. I forgot they existed. Children's toys ...

S. Alexievich, tr. R. Pevear and L. Volkhonsky, Last Witnesses [Volodia Chistokletov] (1985), 42

Missionaries always have large dining-tables

The dining-room was small and the greater part of it was filled by an enormous table. On the walls were engravings of scenes from the Bible and illuminated texts.

'Missionaries always have large dining-tables,' Waddington explained. 'They get so much a year more for every child they have and they buy their tables when they marry so that there shall be plenty of room for little strangers.'

W.S. Maugham, The painted veil (1925), 77-78

 

Children don’t know the meaning of yesterday, of the day before yesterday, or even of tomorrow, everything is this, now

When you haven’t been in the world long, it’s hard to comprehend what disasters are at the origin of a sense of disaster: maybe you don’t even feel the need to. Adults, waiting for tomorrow, move in a present behind which is yesterday or the day before yesterday or at most last week: they don’t want to think about the rest. Children don’t know the meaning of yesterday, of the day before yesterday, or even of tomorrow, everything is this, now: the street is this, the doorway is this, the stairs are this, this is Mamma, this is Papa, this is the day, this the night.

E. Ferrante, tr. A. Golstein, My brilliant friend (2011), loc. 244

They were too often surprised by the simplest manifestations of childishness in children

Yet it cannot be denied that, between them, King George and Queen Mary manged to be rather unsuccessful and somewhat unsympathetic parents. They were too often surprised by the simplest manifestations of childishness in children. Why was their eldest son so 'fidgetty', so 'jumpy' as a tiny boy? 'David was "jumpy" yesterday morning, however he got quieter after being out, what a curious child he is', Princess May wrote when Prince Edward of York [Edward VIII] was scarcely two years old.

J . Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary (1959), 392

The central concern of the nation's under-eight-year-olds is hamsters

Most young children take a pretty animistic line where domestic pets are concerned. For a number of years I was one of the judging panel for the largest children's creative-writing competition in this country and came to realize that the central concern of the nation's under-eight-year-olds is hamsters. Cats and dogs came next, with budgies doing quite well also.

P. Lively, Oleander, Jacaranda (1994), 47

She cried like a hosepipe that had been slashed

When Thandiwe had to leave the house she cried like a hosepipe that had been slashed. Tears spurted from her eyes on to the towel wrapped around her belly. She cried while her mother held her in her lap and dressed her in the brand new school shoes she had bought from her wages. Her little girl arms that smelt of Lux were wrapped round her mother's neck.

D. Levy, Things I don't want to know (2013), 47-8

She has never wanted her own children to be brave

She does not want her to make trouble for her daughters and tell them to get some real problems when they complain about not having the right brand of trainers for school. She has never wanted her own children to be brave. Brave like the children on leaking boats fleeing wars. How many medals does a child need pinned on to her pyjamas? Nothing had taught her that having to summon an abundance of courage, far more than anyone should have to bear is healthy for a child.

D. Levy, The cost of living (2018), 165