Last week I was walking to our local park with my 3-year old grandson. We were talking, laughing, stopping to look at every ant that crawled and bird that flew. Once at the park, he broke into a run to get to the swing set. Hardly able to keep up with him, I called out, "Hey, hold your horses!"

At that, he stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Grandma," he said, "I don't have any horses."

I smiled at his innocent little retort, and (once I caught up with him) explained that "hold your horses" means to slow down a bit.

He still didn't get why I was talking about horses, so I explained that in the "olden days," a carriage driver would pull back on the reins of his horses to slow them down. Of course I used elaborate hand gestures to emphasize the "hold your horses" expression, and I was very pleased when he seemed to understand.

And this got me thinking about the use of language, how it changes and evolves, and how fun it is to use it when teaching kids. So later that day I purchased a book of idioms. I opened it, began reading, and could not put it down. I found some of the more easily understood idioms and sayings and (truly) memorized them for potential use with my grandkids.

And soon enough, another opportunity arose to toss out an idiom. Two of my grandsons were quietly watching a DVD when their little brother began to jump on their backs and roll around in front of the televison. I immediately said, "Oh, no. Let's not let Benjamin 'rock the boat'."

The response was, "We're not in a boat!" And I was able, again with lots of hand and arm gestures, to explain that "rocking the boat" refers to creating a little disturbance, and that Benjamin was disturbing them just like someone who may be rocking a boat. Ah, they got it!

Within a few days I was able to sneak in "roll with the punches" (just like a good boxer, adjust to an annoying situation, like your brother singing when you don't feel like listening); somehing that "rings a bell" (made me remember something, just like the reminder of a school or church bell); and "keep your shirt on" (remain patient, especially when you want an ice cream cone really badly... and not be so ready to take off your shirt to fight about it).

Combining fun with learning is learning at its best.

Now "keep your ear to the ground" when looking for fun and interesting things to teach your grandkids. It will keep you "on your toes" and them "cooking with gas"!

---