What ‘Childlore’ Do You Still Remember?

The other day, six-year-old Margot turned to me and said, “Mom, I’ll show you how to draw something you don’t know how to draw.” She asked if I could borrow my notebook, and naturally, I immediately gave it to her. I remember these things. I remember learning about weird little doodles in school and getting really excited to show them to someone. That’s what I thought as she picked up her pencil and carefully drew–oh, wait. Want to guess? I’ll give you a hint. It starts with three vertical lines.

Yes, I mean S!!!Did you know that kids still draw S things? When Margot held it and showed me it, I almost screamed. “What?” she asked as I gasped and let out a laugh. My head quickly filled with elementary school ephemeral things: pictures, playground rhymes, cootie shots, catchers. “Nothing!” I said. “That’s so great, I have to show it to Daddy!” he exclaimed when he saw it.

This incident really sent me down the rabbit hole. And I was happy to know that there was an official case. “The Cool S” is the result of this. fairy tale: Children’s culture and rituals. By definition, that’s what children learn from Other children spread it to other children, completely independent of adults and technology. think: Buttercup test“Crack an Egg with Your Head,” Miss Mary Mack, Jinx (Double Jinx!), Anything I Learned from My Cousin. There is a long history of anthropological research on this topic, and I love it. Because it’s a really fun and very tedious field of research. Imagine trying to get a first grader to explain why saying the same words at the same time means that one of them is not allowed to speak again until the “jinx is broken.” (By the way, has anyone managed to break the jinx? I guess I’m still technically waiting.) Apparently kids have been drawing The Cool S since at least the 1980s, but no one has yet figured out where it came from.

Ever since Margot drew S, childhood has been my favorite conversation starter. It’s amazing to see everyone’s faces relax as their memories are unleashed and spill out everywhere. “Remember when you typed ‘BOOBS’ into your calculator?!” someone would blurt out. “Or — when you drive by a cemetery and you have to hold your breath?” I love hearing the little differences in detail (some of us grew up raising our feet up off the floor when passing a cemetery). But the strange thing is that many of us grew up doing the exact same funny little things, painting, singing, believing. Miss Susie is on a steamboat, Batman smells it, the floor is lava, and he steps on a crack and breaks his mother’s hip. What’s even wilder, and in some ways wonderful, is to know that even though we have moved away from the culture of our childhood, there are still children who carry on the foolish and vulgar traditions of their people. The Cool S will continue to appear in notebooks long after we’re gone. And somewhere, a research scientist is trying to figure out a deal with 6-7. Godspeed, friend.

So I’m dying to ask: What does children’s literature do? you Remember? Personally, I still can’t believe the word “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary.

PS Great funny games to play with kids (classics of children’s literature!) and hilarious passive-aggressive notes for kids.

(Photo of a puppet show in Paris, 1963, taken by Alfred Eisenstedt)