Mom Survey--Feb. 2017

Occasionally on Facebook, I see my friends post questions they've asked their kids (without prompting them) and the recorded answers are pretty funny. I couldn't find the survey I wanted, but this was a good second. I interviewed all my kids (including my biggest child, Jared :) when it was just the two of us so they wouldn't be swayed by what others said. I thought I'd share the answers for posterity's sake. It was a very interesting exercise and can certainly provide a small peek into the kids' perspective of me as well as their own personalities based on their responses. The answers they gave are verbatim--out of the mouth of babes, right? :)

JJ--age 5
Calvin--age 8
Karycn--age 10
Cooper--age 14
Jake--age 17
Jared--age 43 (after nearly 20 years of marriage)

1) What is something I say a lot?
JJ--You have to go to bed (Only at night, kiddo!)
Calvin--Do your chores
Karcyn--You don't get better at something if you don't try (I don't recall saying this, but I like it!)
Cooper--Come here, please! (This is indeed something I say a lot to Cooper)
Jake--Jiminy Cricket & Shoot a monkey (It's true. Haha!)
Jared--Don't complain about your blessings (One of my mantras!)

2) What makes me happy?
JJ--Cleaning my room
Calvin--Dad making you laugh (Aww ❤)
Karcyn--Us obeying (Yup!)
Cooper--Us doing our jobs the first time, every time (Always a good one!)
Jake--When people are obedient and not obnoxious as they always are and I'm not excluding myself from that (Oh my goodness...)
Jared--A clean home (Indeed!)

3) What makes me sad?
JJ--When I don't clean my room
Calvin--Us not doing our jobs (Frustrating for sure!)
Karcyn--Us disobeying (Absolutely)
Cooper--When we're sad (Definitely!)
Jake--When children are not obedient and you know they'd be better off (Hardest part of parenting)
Jared--This is more of a frustration than something that makes you sad--me doing things on my own time frame, which is "eventually." (Haha! We've both learned a little bit about this over the years ;)

4) How tall am I?
JJ--100
Calvin--About 6'1''
Karcyn--6'3''
Cooper--5'7''
Jake--5'8''
Jared--5'6'' (ding ding!)

5) What's my favorite thing to do?
JJ--Eat (Truth)
Calvin--Spend time with family (I love this answer!)
Karcyn--Spend time with the family (This one, too!)
Cooper--Clean the house (Just because I do it a lot doesn't necessarily mean it's my fave ;)
Jake--Watch Hallmark movies (He knows me well and even watches some of them with me ;)
Jared--Reading (Another great answer!)

6) What is my favorite food?
JJ--Cereal (Good answer!)
Calvin--Pizza
Karcyn--Beef
Cooper--Spinach lasagna
Jake--Salads
Jared--Chocolate

7) What is my favorite drink?
JJ--Water (He knows this because he's always drinking mine!)
Calvin--OJ
Karcyn--Chocolate milk
Cooper--Water
Jake--Not soda (Haha! Love this!)
Jared--Ice cold water (ding ding!)

8) If I could go anywhere, where would it be?
JJ--In the house
Calvin--In South Africa with your parents (So thoughtful!)
Karcyn--Alaska (I do love it there!)
Cooper--Italy (I wouldn't complain about this!)
Jake--Away from your kids when they're obnoxious--anywhere they aren't (Some days are like that!)
Jared--the Mediterranean (Twist my arm!)

9) Do you think you could live without me?
JJ--No
Calvin--No, I love your food (And yet, he won't eat any of it...)
Karcyn--NO
Cooper--Who's going to cook my meals? (Really...?)
Jake--Absolutely not!
Jared--(pause) I could, but I wouldn't like it. 

10) How do I annoy you?
JJ--Make funny dreams
Calvin--Singing an annoying song
Karcyn--You tell us what to do everyday, 24/7 (A mom's prerogative :)
Cooper--Pestering me to do things
Jake--Asking for the subatomic details of my life (I wonder if he'll miss this in 18 months ;)
Jared--Do I only get one? :) When you redo things I've already done that you asked me to do. (He's got me there! But I'm better than I used to be ;)

11) What's my favorite TV show?
JJ--Mommy shows--like the Christmas one (Interpretation: The Hallmark channel)
Calvin--Mystery Garage Sales (AKA: Hallmark Mysteries and Movies channel)
Karcyn--Signed, Sealed, Delivered (On the Hallmark channel)
Cooper--Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm seeing a pattern here :)
Jake--Does the Hallmark channel count? A TV show--Hawaii 5-0
Jared--Signed, Sealed, Delivered

12) What is my favorite music to listen to?
JJ--I Am a Child of God (It's what he asks me to sing to him at night :)
Calvin--Very romantic songs
Karcyn--Church music
Cooper--Paul Cardall
Jake--The 80s music
Jared--Everything. Whatever it is that you listen to 25 times in a row (ding ding!)

13) What is my job?
JJ--Clean your room and make your bed (Every day! ;)
Calvin--To do your education and stay home with us (I don't regret it one bit!)
Karcyn--Used to be a teacher, now a stay-at-home mom
Cooper--Stay-at-home mom
Jake--To raise us and teach us to be the best people we can be when we leave home--and so you can be free of kids!
Jared--Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Hough Enterprises

14) How old am I?
JJ--13
Calvin--39
Karcyn--39
Cooper--Dad's 43? You're 39.
Jake--Hmm, Dad's 43, right? I'm going to go low and say 39, just to be safe.
Jared--39 (Yes, but not much longer!)

15) What's my favorite color?
JJ--Purple (ding ding!)
Calvin--Purple
Karcyn--Purple
Cooper--Purple
Jake--Uhhh, green?
Jared--Hmmm. Green. (In his defense, he's not usually coloring me pictures and asking my favorite color on a regular basis. And at one point, it used to be green. :)

16) How much do you love me?
JJ--100 Million
Calvin--From 1-5 hearts, I'd say 4 1/2.
Karcyn--If I would rate you from 1 to a google of hearts, I'd say about a million hearts.
Cooper--Physical or emotional? On a scale of 1-10, I'd say a 9.5.
Jake--Are we quantifying this? Sometimes a 10/10 and other times an infinity out of 10. On rare occasions (when I'm asking him the subatomic details about his life, perhaps?) a 9.5 out of 10.
Jared--To the moon and back.