The Gum Tree for 2007 September 17

Eric Snider, who was a favorite columnist at BYU while I was a freshman (Snide Remarks) wrote today about a good way to get your child potty trained: Have your child call a favorite fictional character to tell the good news. This struck me for three reasons: 1) Last Week Atticus called me to announce the good news that he had just lost a top-front tooth 2) Kristen is trying to potty-train Lilly, and 3) The recall that I had that Aunt Francis didn't like playing into the idea of lying to kids by telling them there is a Santa Clause, Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy. Is this a good idea, and does it indeed violate the Francis Rule? Discuss. . . For Lilly, I suppose I could pretend to be Superman or better yet, a republican presidential candidate. Lilly: Fred, I just went poo-poo in the toilet! Me/Fred: That's great, I crap 35 mm Magnum Shells. or Mitt Romney Me/Mitt: [looking off in the distance] I remember when our old dog Shamus went poo on our family station wagon. . . gee that was a great vacation. O.K. enough with my poor attempt at humor.