The wooden spoon

November 26, 2011

Show any Sicilian-American kid this picture and s/he will get it, immediately.

Here’s the scenario:

Sicilian-American Mom: Don’t do that.
Kid: (does it anyway)
Mom: I told you not to do that.
Kid: (continues to be naughty)

Then:

The sound of a kitchen drawer sliding open hard,
the rattling of kitchen utensils and then,
Mom comes after kid
brandishing a tomato-sauce stained wooden spoon.
{It doesn’t count if it’s not stained with tomato sauce.}

Chase ensues.
Kid usually escapes (laughing all the way)
but if Mom catches up
s/he gets a mild whack on the clothed butt with the wooden spoon.

Once, instead of whacking me,
my mother banged the spoon so hard on the
formica counter that the wood split and the spoon
lay in two pieces on the counter.
Everyone had a good laugh,
including Mom.

I suppose in today’s world
someone would call the authorities.
But really, most kids in my culture would tell you
that they mostly laughed as they evaded the wooden spoon
(and their mom).

Disclaimer: I abhor child abuse of any kind.
However, a Sicilian-American mom
wielding a sauce-stained wooden spoon
is definitely not a child abuser.

If you, too, have a story about a wooden spoon,
tell us about it in the Comments section.

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