It is my privilege to sing with the preschoolers each week. I pull out the songs I have been plucking for forty years, with little ones who have since grown and borne their own children. Tunes like I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly, the Little Lost Lamb, and the Wheels on the Bus are as much fun now as they were in the eighties. Small hands spin and clap and turn into sheep as easily. 

One of their favorites is On Top of Spaghetti, which we performed with gusto. If you are unfamiliar I will mention that a sneeze causes a cascade of problems for supper. I told them that this week I am forbidden to sneeze. 

"A doctor fixed my ear and he said I am not allowed to sneeze for a whole week." They listened to this with the gravity of the moment.  

I feel at home with young children. They are eager to be silly at a moment's notice, to try something new, and also are content to sing the same songs over again. What a great strategy for life- familiar is good, yet novel is too. 

Another we all love to belt out is My Old Man's a Sailor.The last verse describes a dad who is a cotton pickin' finger lickin' chicken plucker, which is as much fun to say as it is to watch someone say it. Before we begin I ask kids what their moms' and dads' jobs are, so that I can add those in. The catch is that many four year olds don't actually know. 

"What do your moms and dads do?" 

A hand popped up. "Yes?"

"They yell at me."

As someone who could have been known as a yeller when my brood was small, I can relate. Fortunately grandmahood is less of a conflict and more pure dessert.