Does anyone remember the comic strip in Highlights for Children magazine, called ‘Goofus and Gallant’? The one where two brothers, true to their names, always acted stereotypically wrong and right, respectively, in every situation?
‘Goofus bullies kids in school’ … ‘Gallant befriends classmates who seem lonely.’ ‘Goofus takes the last piece of fruit from the kitchen table’ … ‘Gallant shares his food with others’ … ‘Goofus breaks something then walks away’ … ‘Gallant cleans up after himself and admits to his mistakes.’ You get the picture.
If you have kids, did you ever wonder how your different children could be as different as night and day (or as Goofus and Gallant?) … raised by the same parents in the same household and having the same gene pools?!!!
(Sorry, didn’t quite know how to ‘blur out’ that middle finger, like they do on TV!)
We’ve joked for years about how different daughter Jamie (now 28 years old) and son Dan (23) are. Sure, they have some sweet similarities in appearance, intelligence, sense of humor. But we often refer to Dan as our ‘puppy’ – sweet, kind, eager to please. He owns up to things and feels guilty if he believes he’s done something wrong. He’ll give you back change from spending money, feel guilty if ‘Grammy’ spends too much on him … things like that.
And Jamie’s – proudly – much more like a cat in nature. Independent, not necessarily that eager to please, quick to tell her truths. Like a cat, she will walk away from an object she might knock over, saying ‘oops,’ but claiming absolutely no responsibility and feeling no remorse! (She might even try to blame you for putting it there in the first place.) She’s also quick to chastise Dan about giving back change, feeling guilty about accepting money from family, etc.
They love each other and we love them both like crazy. They also totally complement each other – and our family – with their unique personalities and behaviors. And I only write this with Jamie’s permission and, in fact, endorsement. She proudly/jokingly wears the badge of ‘Goofus’ (though she is MUCH kinder than she might freely admit). And last Mother’s Day, she gave me the ‘funnest,’ funniest Mother’s Day gift ever last year with the photo representations of she and Dan as ‘Goofus’ and ‘Gallant’ shown in this blog.
Happy Mother’s Day everyone!
Justme-ellenc 