3 Comments

  1. Ouch! That connected with me, Bill. The older I get the better my forgetter works!!
    But it is so true that kids (indeed anyone!) love to hear their name on someone else’s lips, and not with a snarl or a put-down, but with a welcome and affection.

    I know there are wee memory tricks to help us remember names, but in addition, we need to be determined to learn them, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help our failing memories, and we need to repeatedly use the kids’ names, so they sink in.

    At the end of the day children know when they are loved, and won’t mind if we make mistakes. So we can get by with “Sweetie”, “dude” or, here in Scotland, “hen” (Yes! And in some parts of England the affectionate generic name is “duck”!)

  2. Regina

    I always cover that up with, “I know, your name is XXXXX (a goofy name). They tell me “no, it’s XXXX.” Then I say again,” no, it’s XXXXX!” That usually gets them laughing and after they repeatadly tell me their name, it helps me learn it for real.

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