Cami, age 10
What is it like to be ten years old?
I'm treated older and I get to baby-sit, but I'm not too old to play computer games.
How does being ten compare to being younger?
When I was younger I couldn't use the stove, and I couldn't bike without a helmet. I was treated younger.
What do you predict you'll be like when you're older?
I'll probably be a snob when I'm older. I'll be very bossy because I'm already bossy now. I probably will do well in school because I already do.
Have you learned anything about life in the past few days?
I learned that things have changed a lot. Things used to be different, but now things are modern, and they're going to get more and more modern as the years go by. I was reading that in Time magazine--there was an article that showed 1900 to the present. Also, people change a lot as they get older. They change personalities, become different.
What do you think about before you get out of bed in the morning?
I look around the room and remind myself of things. There is a picture in my room that I look at all the time. I've memorized every detail.
What it is of?
It's an embroidery of the alphabet. You know, where A is airplane, B is bear, and it keeps going down.
When is somebody not a kid anymore?
You mature, get older, change personality a little. You think more often. Or if you're a teenager, you don't think. Adults think more often than they did when they were kids. They become more important than they were when they were kids.
When is somebody old?
When you're not as young as you used to be and you changed personalities. Old people have gray hair and don't act young.
How often do you see your grandparents?
I haven't seen my dad's parents in a while, but I saw my mother's parents a couple weeks ago. I see them about every month.
Where do they live?
My dad's parents live in Roseburg (OR) and my mom's live in Tri-cities (WA).
What do you think about really old people?
I think they're weird, or feel sorry for them. Talking to older people is sometimes embarrassing because they treat you younger.
What is your favorite thing to do?
Probably to read. I like reading a lot. My favorite two series are Baby-sitter Club and Sweet Valley High. Oh, and Harry Potter.
What is your favorite book?
My favorite book of all time is The Curse of the Ruby Necklace, by Francine Pascal. It's a Sweet Valley High book.
What do you like to learn about?
Basically, I like to learn about people who lived long ago. History, the Oregon Trail, and explorers. And the solar system is also neat.
What don't you like to learn?
Stuff they tell you about different parts of plants because I don't think I'll be using that when I get older. Like photosynthesis.
What do you envision yourself doing when you get older?
I want to be an actress. I think I want to go to University of Oregon and move places and travel. I like to travel.
Do you have a favorite joke?
Can it be a prank?
Sure.
My favorite prank is something I did last April Fool's Day. I put plastic wrap on the toilet seat. I got Laura on it, and she said she'd get me back someday.
Ariel, age 8
What is it like to be eight years old?
Very good.
How is being eight different than when you were younger?
I've changed a lot. I got bigger. Of course, everybody gets bigger. I've also gotten a lot stronger.
Do you have any idea what you'll be like when you're older?
No. Oh, I don't want to smoke any cigarettes. And I am a chocoholic.
When is somebody not a kid anymore?
When they're twenty, I guess. Or when they die. I'm always going to be a kid.
What makes you a kid?
My good humor, and dancing around. Everything. Except for being an adult. I'm jumpy. Energetic. I like to play with my other kid friends and I like to jump ropes and play hopscotch and that makes me a kid. And I'm young. Can I say something about school?
Sure.
We are learning German and Spanish.
When is somebody old?
I don't think anybody is old. I think somebody is old when they're a hundred I guess. No, a million.
How often do you see your grandparents?
Once a year, I think. My mom's mom and dad. But Judy, Charlie's mom, I see fairly often.
Do you wish you saw them more?
Yes. Because it's fun to be around older people. And they take me shopping. Plus, it's fun.
What do you think about really old people?
I think of wisdom and I usually think that old people are really cute with wrinkles and a scrunched nose. Some of them I know know so much about children. Some of them have been around them for a long time and they have had many of their own.
What is your favorite thing to do?
On really hot days, I like to go swimming in ice cold water. Well not ice cold, but fairly cold. And on really cold days when it snows I like to go skiing and have snowball fights.
What do you like to learn about in school?
Mathematics. Math problems. And German and Spanish.
Is there anything you don't like to learn about?
I like doing everything, really. I don't know.
What do you think about before you get out of bed in the morning?
The morning and how the day is going to be, and if I'll have fun at school. I think about my parents and Azara [Ariel's baby sister] and all my friends at school. All different things.
Do you ever think about what you'd like to do when you are older?
I would like to help out people.
How?
If they're feeling bad. All different things. Counseling, going to old people's home and helping them out.
Do you ever think you know something better than someone who is older than you?
Yes I do. I think I know how to be a kid better than an adult. And there's one thing that I can do better than Charlie. Not do math so good.
Matti, age 9
Is nine different than when you were younger?
Not really much.
What do you think you'll be like when you're older?
I don't know.
When is a person not a kid anymore?
When they are about twenty. And when they get bigger and taller.
What makes kids different than adults?
We're smaller and grown-ups usually work during the day and children usually play.
What makes a person really old?
They have gray hair and sometimes have problems seeing.
How often do you see your grandparents?
Pretty often. Some live in Eugene and the rest live in New Jersey.
What is your favorite thing to do?
One of them is to be with other kids.
What do you like to do with your friends?
Play.
What do you like to play?
Sometimes we play that we're animals. Sometimes we play tag, and stuff like that.
What do you like to learn about?
I like science and reading a lot. Especially electric science, like how to make an electric magnet. You take a battery and you wrap a piece of wire around a piece of metal and have each end of the wire touching the battery and it's like a magnet. The more power there is in the battery, the more like a magnet it gets.
Is there anything you don't like to learn about?
Not really.
What do you think about in the morning before you get out of bed?
Usually I think about what happened in my dreams.
Bridget, age 6
What is it like to be six years old?
Good.
How is being six different than when you were younger?
You can do more stuff. Like jump-rope. And exercise every morning. I just started doing it.
What kind of exercise?
Jumping jacks. (demonstrates) One! Two! Three!...Ten! Push-ups. (demonstrates) Running in place...and I know I do more than that.
What do you think about in the morning before you get out of bed?
If it's not a school day, I think of eating breakfast and then lying down on the couch. If it is a school day, then I look forward to going back home on the school bus.
What is your favorite thing for breakfast?
Cereal.
What kind of cereal?
Hmm, that's a hard question. I don't know what kind, just cereal.
When is somebody not a kid anymore?
When they're thirteen.
What changes when a person is thirteen?
They usually spend more time reading and writing things down and not really playing as much.
When is somebody old?
They go to work and stuff like that.
Anything else?
They try to make kids answer questions for interviews.
How often do you see your grandparents?
About every year or so.
Do they live near you?
No.
Do you wish you saw them more?
Yes, because they give me treats and stuff.
How do you feel about really old people?
They're usually pretty nice.
What is your favorite thing to do?
Sit down and think.
What do you think about?
Just think.
What is your next favorite thing to do?
Jump-rope.
What do you like to do in school?
Reading.
Is there anything you don't like to do?
I don't like to do what most of the kids in my class are doing. Being bad in the class.
What makes you a kid?
I'm younger and I do playful things.
Do you know what you'd like to do when you get older?
I don't know.
Do you ever think you know how to do something better than a person older than you?
Yes, I know how to be younger than you.
Richard, age 8
What is it like to be eight years old?
Hard.
What makes it hard?
Harder homework.
How is being eight different than when you were younger?
Seven was a pretty good age for me. There wasn't that hard of homework, and I first learned about Pokemon cards and I got my first Pokemon card when I was seven.
What do you think about in the morning before you get out of bed?
Kind of ready to get a little bit of air jerked out of me because I always jump out of my bed.
Do you have a favorite joke?
One of them is, what does a broom do at night? The answer is, it goes to sweep.
When is a person not a kid anymore?
Around the age of nine.
Why nine?
Because that's kind of an old number. 365 x 9...let me think, how many days would that be? Hmm, I can't think of it.
What makes somebody old?
Being on earth for a long time. You're kind of getting to know where you're going. You know more about the world than most younger people.
How often do you see your grandparents?
Around three times a year.
Do they live near you?
Let me think...I think so.
Do you like to see them?
Yes. Because I don't get to see them that often.
What do you think about when you see old people?
I think about what it would be like when I'm around their age.
What do you think it will be like?
Pretty tiring. Because I'm not going to get a car because a car costs a lot more money than a bike.
Anything else?
I sometimes think about if I'll still like Pokeman.
What age are you thinking about?
Like around fourteen.
What about people who are seventy or eighty years old? How do you feel around them?
I can't think of that.
Do you have any idea what you'll be like when you're older, like fourteen or twenty?
I don't really think about that.
What is your favorite thing to do?
I like to collect Pokemon cards.
What about before there were Pokemon cards?
Before Pokemon I liked Star Wars and Legos.
And before that?
Probably annoying Tess and Cami [his sisters].
What do you like to learn in school?
I like to learn new games on the playground. And what good things are inside my lunch.
So you don't like being in school?
Yes.
What don't you like to do in school?
They don't give us much time to do homework, and once my homework was one quarter of a pound heavy.
What don't you like to learn about?
I don't like to learn about what I'm going to do next unless I'm going to the computer or to recess.
What makes you a kid?
I'm not out of third grade yet. I don't know as much.
What do you like about being in third grade?
The homework isn't that hard.
Do you ever think about what you'll do when you grow up?
I thought about it once, but I don't really remember what I was thinking about.
Is there anything you know you don't want to do?
I don't want to go to college.
Why not?
Because it costs a lot of money.
Do you ever think you know something better than a person who is older than you?
Yes. I know more about Pokemon than Cami.
Tess, age 7
What is it like to be seven years old?
Well, it's kinda fun, kinda not fun. The fun part is I get to go to school and get smarter, and the non-fun part is I have a really picky teacher.
How is being seven different than when you were younger?
Well, you're getting older and growing more and your hair can grow longer.
Do you have an idea of what you'll be like when you get older?
Yeah. I'm going to be an artist.
How long have you known this?
Since I went into school, which was last year.
What do you think about in the morning before you get out of bed?
I think I want to stay in my covers because they are so warm. And I don't want to get out to go to school, they're so warm.
Do you have a favorite joke?
Yeah. The knock knock who's there banana joke.
When is somebody not a kid anymore?
I think when they're twenty.
Why?
Because they're really old, maybe they would have got a great beard by then, and they're already moved out of their house.
What makes somebody old?
That their birthday comes once a year and that they turn a different age.
Is there anything about how a person acts?
They act like they're an adult as they grow closer to an adult.
What makes somebody an adult?
An adult acts very strict. Some adults don't act very strict.
How often do you see your grandparents?
Not very often. Like once a month or something.
Do you wish you saw them more?
Yes.
What do you like about seeing them?
My mom's dad is very nice, he kind of spoils us. And I like my mom's mom because she takes us out to Baskin-Robbins and things. And I like my dad's dad because he's really nice and I like my dad's mom because she's also nice.
How do you feel around really old people?
Well, if they smoke, not too good, but if they don't, I feel really safe. Because if they smoke they might offer me a cigarette or a cigar. And if you think you're going to laugh, don't, because it's not funny.
Has anyone ever offered you a cigarette?
Definitely not! No no no! Not even a cigar.
How do you feel around people who are eighty, ninety, a hundred years old?
That have canes and things? Not too safe. But if they have a cane and they're my guardian, they could whack them in the shins and act like they didn't do anything.
What is your favorite thing to do?
Climb trees!
What else?
My second favorite thing is having recess at school.
What do you do at recess?
Play monkey bars, spin around on three bars, do acrobatic moves on the slide, do crab-walk up the back of the slide. My third favorite thing is going to somebody's birthday party, or having my birthday.
What do you like to learn about?
I like to learn about Martin Luther King.
Why?
Because of the gift he gave us, and about his dream. You want to know about the mushy stuff? Some stupid person that didn't like Martin Luther King's words got a gun and killed him.
Is there anything you don't like to do?
Writing. I don't like to learn how to type on computers. It's not fun, not fun at all.
What makes you a kid?
Because I'm not even close to seventeen or twenty or eighteen or nineteen. I'm still little and I still like to play kid's games.
What do you like about being a kid?
It's fun, you can go on branches you can't go on when you're bigger, because when you're bigger you might break them, you know.
What do you think you'll be like as a person when you're grown up?
I'm going to talk about Martin Luther King to people who don't know about him.
Do you ever think you know more than somebody who is older than you?
Yeah. One kid who's seven in my classroom and her birthday was before mine so she's older, she doesn't know how to spell Mississippi. I do, and I'm the only one in my classroom who knows how. Do you want me to spell it for you?
Sure.
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.
Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?
I can spell generous, and nobody else can spell those words.
How did you learn?
Cami and Richard. It's good to have older brothers and sisters.
Jenya Lemeshow is a gardener, artist, writer, and lover of children. A resident and garden assistant at Lost Valley for nine months starting in May of 1999, she is a frequent contributor to this magazine.
©2000* Talking Leaves
Spring/Summer 2000
Volume 10, Number 1
Listening to Elders and Children