Kids

Little boy: Now?
Grandma: No! Now? Now? You sound like Taco, my old cat. Now? Now? He had a funny way of meowing.
Little boy: He looked like a taco that you eat?
Grandma: No. I don’t know why they called him Taco.

–Myrtle & Washington

Overheard by: Kevin Michael Lee

Guy: If I ever beat my kids during Christmas, this is the song I’d play.

–Ulysses, Pearl Street

Overheard by: Dennis Sugrue

Woman: Crowded in here, huh?
Guy: Ha, we’ll be engaged by the 8th floor.
Woman: Ha.
Guy: Ready to have kids?
Woman: Ha.
Guy: I was about to say something obscene, but–
Woman: Say it.

–Silver Center elevator, Washington Square East

Overheard by: adam

Young boy: Mom, what are those two things?
Mom, reading display: That’s your scrotum, right there…
Young boy: What’s a scrotum?
Mom: It’s your… That thing… Oh, you know what it is!

–Bodies Exhibit

Overheard by: Marty

Dad: How old are you?
Teen boy: Thirteen.
Dad: How old are you?
Mom: You know he’s thirteen.
Dad: It says here [gestures to brochure] that if you’re eleven or younger, you get in free… How old are you?
Teen boy: Oh. Eleven.

–Roxy Deli

Overheard by: Kelsey

Kid, in stroller: What's that?
Mom: A plumber truck.
Kid: A plumber truck?
Mom: Uh-huh.
Kid: I wanna be a plumber truck!

–7th & Atlantic, Brooklyn

Overheard by: concerned for the future

Mom to straggling hefty child of her brood: Tired of walking, Donovan?
Donovan, gasping for breath: No.

–Strand Books

Overheard by: Casey Sandel

Little boy pointing at painting: Mama, why are there so many colors?
Mother: Shit, ain’t you color-bind or somethin’?

–MoMA

Little girl: My birthday is next week.
Woman: Oh? What sign are you?
Little girl: I’m Italian and Jewish.

–Park Slope

Overheard by: Chris D.

Little kid: Grandma, I want a dollar.
Ghetto grandma: Nigga, we had to work to get money, sometimes we would get beat.
Little kid: Can I get my dollar now?

–The Bronx

Overheard by: Julio Pena