LUKY
"PLEASE JACK", MY SECOND DAUGHTER SAID SOLEMNLY, HER BROWN EYES FIXED EARNESTLY ON THE MAN WHO HAD BEEN VISITING US: "TELL ME, WHY DO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH?"
It is at times like these that I'm reminded of the rhyme: What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice, and all things nice; that's what little girls are made of.
How many times a day do your children and mine make us smile or chuckle?
My second daughter, then four years old and like all four-year-olds, was full of enthusiasm and sincerity, and spread these qualities unstintingly among everyone she met.
She had a special soft spot for me. Small children and animals often have, not on account of my deep-seated nobility of character, but because I can't always be bothered with them.
There's nothing like a limited amount of wholesome neglect to make oneself popular with children. They resent too much fussing.
"Kiss me, you rubbishy mom!" she used to plead, fondly believing she was paying me a great compliment.
What she really meant was to call me was "ravishing". Even in my most unbothered moments I could not be impervious to such a tribute.
She loves God, or Lord as she calls Him. On a visit to the church I showed her the tabernacle, explaining that the cross is a statue but that Jesus Himself lives in that small house.
You could see her pondering.
Then she said: "How does Lord get out if He wants to buy a piece of chocolate?"
You can't laugh it off. The Bible says that on His first visit to the apostles after the resurrection, Jesus asked for food and was given a piece of grilled fish.
"There's so much about God we don't really understand", I said. "But we'll ask Him to explain everything when we get to heaven."
Our Lord is going to be busy answering questions when my children get up there.
Among other things my eldest son was going to request Him to walk straight on a crooked line, and my third son wanted to ask Him how He came to have no beginning.
Of all my children, my second daughter was the one who most missed her brother at boarding school.
"If Joe was here now, he wouldn't let you scold me!" she said. She's quite right, because he guarded her with a loyal devotion.
Although at the time she reached just above his waist, they spent their holidays walking hand in hand like Hansel and Gretel, talking nineteen to the dozen.
She had a little Afrikaans friend nicknamed Little Flea who lived behind us, and they had their quarrels.
"Vlooitjie don't loves me any more", she would inform me sadly on these occasions.
Her father loved to tease her, and usually got a rise out of her.
However, she always felt she needed one of us on her side. "Ek stem vir Mama", she would tell him. "Mom gets six points, you get none. I've had you in chunks."
It took all his diplomacy on these occasions to get points for himself too.
When I realised how little time I spent with the small ones as compared to the bigger children, I used to feel guilty.
Once my daughter asked me to sing Goosey Goosey Gander to her:
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers
So I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.
While I sang, I wondered:"Should I be teaching her words such as these?"
I do get so tired of bending over backwards trying to do the right thing.
"It's not like that", she interrupted. "My sister taught me like this:
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers
So I took him by the hand and helped him down the stairs.
This was one occasion when I was taught by my children, rather than the reverse.
Catherine Nicolette
In my tender years, some nursery rhymes slightly daunted me until I learned to tweak them to my taste.
In my version, you should have heard how polite Mister Wolf was to the three little pigs. He gave an awful sneeze and knocked their straw house down, whereupon he humbly offered to rebuild a sturdy brick house.
The pigs used to enjoy his regular visits to their new home. They used to bake pies with the wolf's favourite filling - raspberries and sugar.
Jack of Beanstalk fame had tea with the giant, and they would visit at holiday time. The giant being extra careful where he placed his feet when visiting Jack's house, of course.
He didn't want to inadvertently squash the neighbourhood.
Mind you, the cow still jumped over the moon, and the dish still ran away with the spoon. A little high spiritedness passed my youthful test.
I never held with violence on stairs, particularly for the younger set.
