The Childhood Stories Your Children Keep Requesting

The other day, while spending time with my three children on the backyard trampoline, my five-year-old daughter, Ella, made a simple request.

“Mommy, can you tell me a story about when you were a kid?” she asked.

Instantly, a vivid memory surfaced.

***

I was four years old, thoroughly enjoying myself at a family barbecue, swimming in my grandparents’ pool with my cousins. Yet a recurring problem persisted: I constantly felt the urge to use the restroom at the most inconvenient moments—right when it was my turn to dive, or mid-game during an elaborate mermaid session.

After my fifth trip to the bathroom, I decided I had had enough. Once I relieved myself, instead of pulling my cold, wet suit back up, I simply rolled it down around my ankles and stepped out. I then dropped my sequined one-piece into the toilet and walked away.

I assumed no one would notice my nudity as long as I returned to the water quickly. Naturally, everyone noticed. “Jannelley…” my teenage cousin Lupe called out as I passed. “Where are your clothes?” My mother rushed over with a towel, and my pool time concluded for the afternoon.

Despite the embarrassment, I felt a strange mixture of pride and fascination. I had solved a significant problem entirely on my own.

***

By the end of my tale, Ella was laughing uncontrollably on the trampoline. From that day forward, she asked me to retell “the bathing suit down the toilet story” nearly every evening, and I recognized it as perhaps my finest piece of childhood lore.

Which childhood stories from your own life do your children love to hear?

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