Ironing Out Irony - August 11, 2022 | Kids Out and About Fairfield County, CT <

Ironing Out Irony

August 11, 2022

Debra Ross

Whenever I'm asked to summarize parenting in just a few words (it happens more often than you might think), I answer, "A parent is a child's tour guide to the world." You wander around with them for 18 or more years in their ever-expanding universe, cheerfully pointing at new sights and putting words to them, clarifying abstract and confusing ideas, helping them make sense of what's in their orbit.

Of all the concepts my kids asked me to explain when they were young, "IRONY" was the hardest. I'm usually good with words and at talking with kids, but that one had me stumped. I'd say things like: "Irony is when we do or say something for one purpose, but the opposite effect happens, and so we find that funny." Yeah, that was clunky to the point of ridiculous, and totally unsatisfying to a kid. It made me wonder (and not for the first time) how useful was my degree in English literature if I couldn't even explain irony.

But then one day the universe made the point for me. There was irony, hanging out right outside my car window: Spray-painted in crude white graffiti on a concrete traffic barrier were the words PLEASE Don't Litter. (I loved how the "please" was in capital letters, as though the spray-painter's mother had reminded him always to be polite and respectful while defacing public property.)

All I had to do was point, smile, and label, as any good tour guide would. IRONY. They got it.

Deb