Kid Quotes Are the Best

I love to collect quotes but the ones by my kids are my favorite. It’s true that if you don’t write down the funny things your kids say right away, you’ll forget it. It’s happened to me and I’ve regretted not trying harder to get them written down. I’ve only forgotten to write down what my kids have said a few times.

My mom started a tradition of writing down humorous quotes my brothers and I said when we were small. Years later, those quotes became a family treasure and a few favorite one-liners have become legendary. My mom made an effort to write those kid quotes down in a small green spiral notebook. They would’ve been long forgotten otherwise. Reading through them as an adult has made me laugh so hard I cried.

At my first baby shower, my aunt gave me a new hardcover lined journal with a note that said it was for recording my kids’ quotes in. As my kids grew, I made an effort to use the journal and it now has many pages filled.

Writing down the funny things they have said hasn’t been difficult. I’ve always just written the quote down on whatever piece of paper happened to be handy and slipped it in a spot where I would find it later so that I could transfer it to the book.

Typically, my slips of papers end up tucked into the book and I’ll periodically transfer the stack of quotes when I have time to re-write them.

I’ve always recorded the month and year and which kid said the quote because I will forget if there’s not a name written down.  When I re-write the quote in the book, I keep the list of quotes of both kids by year. It’s become handy to do it this way when I include my kids’ quotes for the past year as part of my newsletter. Doing so has become family and friends’ favorite part of our newsletter. Using quotes also makes a wonderful addition to a scrapbook page for scrapbookers out there.

There have been many times I’ve dug out my kid’s quotes book to boost my mood on a blue or bad day. It doesn’t take reading many lines before I’m laughing hysterically and searching for tissues to wipe the laugh tears coming from my eyes. I’ve even read their quotes for inspiration in writing my column.

My kids love to read the things they said when they were little too. My kids are likely to carry on the tradition once they have a family. Here are a few recent gems from my book:

Daughter: What does it mean when it says “from NG” on Dad’s gift?

Me: “Norwegian Goddess”

Daughter: Oh. I thought it meant “Nag Girl”

Daughter: She sticks out like a sore finger.

Son regarding his ball cap: It’s like a dog’s; I don’t someone else’s scent on it.

Son to me about sister: She wants you to help her with something. That could be everything.

Son about hour-long car ride: This is making me domesticated.

Son: I’m hungrier than a coyote with mange.

Daughter: Let’s calm ourselves down and play a board game.

Daughter: Mom, do you think a tornado is powerful enough to rip open a stuffed animal?

Having a book of humorous quotes from kids is a family tradition worth starting. I highly recommend that parents and grandparents write down what their kids and grandkids say. Keep them in a book and guard them in your safe like you would your other important documents. The things kids say are valuable.