Poor benighted youngest children

The other night L. was expounding on something during dinner and happened to use several large, multi-syllabic words in a row. This caused G. to comment on the vocabulary choice, which suddenly brought to my mind that long ago study about younger children in large families not having large vocabularies. (And since it still comes to mind, I freely admit that it still rankles.) 

So I told the children at the table about the results of the study, which everyone laughed about because it was so far outside the realm of our experience. I also mentioned why I thought the test results were skewed.... because youngest children of large families, at least in my experience, feel no need to comply for the sake of compliance, thus they probably chose not to participate or if they did, try very hard.

L. and G. both agreed that this would be very much their reaction. Did it surprise me? No, not at all because I've been there when they both clammed up and stared and someone who was being a bit too forcefully engaging. Picture the twins from The Shining, minus matching dresses, and you'll get a good image of the look. 

If anything, my life would be a bit more peaceful if they had less a facility for language, especially when they choose to wield it towards getting something they desire... puppies, kittens, trips to Europe...  Let's just say I'm very good at saying no, but do wonder why, exactly, I'm having them learn rhetoric this year.

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