I have two funny gum stories that I probably told on the AO at least a couple of times. I am getting old, so I will repeat them here again.
I am around the corner at home and overhear the 4 yo asking almost 7 yo “what do I do with the gum when I am finished chewing it?” Older child responds “just throw it behind the couch”. Resulting in an instant gum ban for a while for that child.
Different child at BIL’s house (BIL is wife’s brother, lives in a different town than us), possibly 3 yo at the time. Sees uncle chewing gum, sits down next to him and quietly asks “Dot any of dat dere dum?” Uncle struggles to understand the translation from 3yo to adult speech, but then realizes the poor child has been deprived due to the strict gum control regime in the home. He hatches a plan to smuggle gum thru the locally residing aunt (his sister, my SIL) to the deprived, under-age, would-be gum-chewers in my home. SIL gets caught (or maybe fesses up to Mrs G) when arriving at my home. We think the most appropriate response is to send BIL a Barbie head with chewed gum matted in the hair and a note “This is what happens when you smuggle gum to a 3 yo”.
And yes, we have spent time and precious peanut butter extracting gum from girl’s hair.
