While riding the train today I saw a two- or three-year-old girl push the emergency intercom button. Her grandmother had the task of apologizing on her behalf and explaining that there was nothing wrong going on, no emergency. The grandmother went on to scold her quarry, because this was the second time that this had happened, and it was only okay to push buttons when on an elevator and NOT on the train.
It's fun, pushing buttons (in the literal sense). It's like magic, and in America we use the phrase "at the press of a button" to refer to something that happens quickly and easily, whether or not there's an actual, physical button that is pushed. It makes me think of the movie Wall-E, where future humans never do anything but sit in moving chairs and access everything by pressing various buttons.
Ah, but I digress. Pushing buttons is just one of the many phases that a kid growing up in America may experience. Here are some others:
- dinosaur phase
- train/car phase
- security blanket/object phase (incl. thumbsucking)
- dolphin/horse/unicorn phase
- marine biologist/veterinarian phase
- police/firefighter/doctor phase
- princess phase
- cowboy/astronaut/ninja phase
- food jags
- in general, acting out as characters from favorite TV shows or movies
What on God's green earth (the green part) is a food jag? I must know.
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