My twins start Grade One in the fall, which officially catapults them out of the category of preschoolers. I’m not sure what they’re called now. Schoolers doesn’t quite have the same categorical recognition. And the term Grade Schoolers is awkward. I’m going for kids. Just plain kids.
Since my kids are beyond preschool, I now feel I’m an expert on this age group, not unlike a person who’s kicked a bad habit and shares her secrets with a megaphone.
So here it is, my one piece of advice for every adult who will ever come in contact with a preschooler: make sure you have a favourite colour.
I’m serious.
I made the mistake of going into this parenting thing without one. To me, a colour was a colour. In the same way a table was a table, a sidewalk a sidewalk.
“Mommy, what’s your favourite colour?” my preschool twins would ask twelve times each day.
At first I tried honesty.
“I don’t have one,” I’d say.
Then my kids would beg, cajole, and repeat.
I held my ground for a long time. I didn’t have a favourite colour. And there was a reason for this.
About 20 years ago, I went to a Color Me Beautiful party. If you don’t know what this is, one woman fastens a white cape over you, velcros it tightly around your neck, and then drapes a series of colour wheels around her victim while her disciples ooh and aaah. Like in any cult, these women share their testimonials. I listened to tales of how one woman’s life was changed when she found out she was a “Fall.” Two other peons cooed about how they switched wardrobes after realizing one of them was a “Spring” with a Winter wardrobe and the other a “Winter” with a Spring wardrobe. Clearly, a middle class crisis.
When these women did my colours, however, there were no oohs and aahs. There was silence. We really can’t tell, they admitted, draping colour wheel after colour wheel around my neck. None of them looked good. This has never happened, the Grand Poobah said.
Then they did my makeup anyway and sent me home looking like a tart. A frosted one. Maybe this explains my makeup crisis.
I get the shivers just thinking about it.
No wonder I can’t deal with the “What’s your favourite colour?” question.
I have yet to utter, “They all suck.”
Instead, I adopted a “favourite” colour.
Lime green.
It reminds me of spring leaves, I say. And if you live in Canada, this colour is hope. Given my experience with colour wheels, hope is as good as it gets.
And so, I reiterate: make sure you have a favourite colour. If you don’t, you will never pass muster with any 4 or 5-year-old.
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Any comments from Springs or Summers?
I agree. My twins still ask me on a semi-regular basis what my favorite color is. They will also announce it to anyone nearby. And God forbid I change my favorite color. (I did this recently) It was met with a barrage of questions and concerns. “What’s wrong with blue?” “Why don’t you like blue anymore?” “Will you ever like blue again?”
Sigh.
My mom got me that book when I turned thirteen because I “needed to start acting like a lady” and not the tomboy I was. I think I was a Spring. I can’t remember anymore.
Luckily, I already had a favorite color (purple) when my daughter decided that that was her new favorite question. Still, she had to control it, and if two people in the room answered the same thing, she would assign a favorite color to the second person. Nobody was allowed to like the same thing. It’s still that way with trivia and such. Even if there is only one right answer, no two people can have the same answer.
I’ve always told all my boys (incl hubby) that my favourite colour is SHINY. I remained insistent on this, persevering through their confoundedness and happily, now that they are of shopping age, they get it – girls like bling! My future daughter-in-laws owe me.
I think maybe the “Color me Beautiful” ladies needed stumping. I’m just saying.
And I totally agree with you on having a favourite colour. I don’t really have one, either. I have some I like more or less than others, but I don’t feel particular devotion. My 5-year-old finds this totally puzzling. Although HER favourite colour is “pink and purple and gold and all the colours”. So I’m not sure that she really has a leg to stand on.
Blue. I am picking blue.
so glad that fad has passed!
Holy crap – my mom has this book! I remember it, too! Thought I was a winter for, like, 15 years and have discovered I’m a summer…or spring? Feck it.
I hate to admite that I bought that book all those years ago after seeing one of those dramatic “ta-da” moments when they switch the capes (kind of toreador fashion) and everyone is stunned by the change. FYI I’m a winter, and I remember this quote because it is hilarious…..”white is exciting on you”.
I think “White is exciting on you” belongs in a short story. I can just see the hostess clapping her hands together in joy…