A good chuckle

One of our family mottos is "Price's are solvers."  This originated from a conversation I had with my mom a few years ago.  She was suggesting that I try to raise both of my twins to be solvers, not complainers.  She has seen this in some twins, one would complain about an issue/problem/concern and one would solve.  I can see how easy it is to complain both in adults and in my children constantly, "Mom, I need insert anything and everything here" or "Dad, I can't find my soccer socks." etc, etc.  Since we have spent a considerable amount of time talking about this I am seeing an improvement.  I am OK hearing things like, "I need more potatoes" at the dinner table as long as it is followed by "can you please pass it?"

That said, we were listening to a children's CD in the car yesterday and I laughed out loud at this principle so perfectly illustrated in the song, "There's a Hole in the Bucket".  I have known this song for years, but only yesterday saw that indeed Henry was the complainer and Liza, the solver.  The song is based on a dialogue about a leaky bucket between two characters, called Henry and Liza. The song incorporates an infinite loop motif: Henry has got a leaky bucket, and Liza tells him to repair it. But to fix the leaky bucket, he needs straw. To cut the straw, he needs an axe. To sharpen the axe, he needs to wet the sharpening stone. To wet the stone, he needs water. However, when Henry asks how to get the water, Liza's answer is "in a bucket". It is implied that one bucket is available — the leaky one, which, if it could carry water, would not need repairing in the first place.

Here are the lyrics:

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, with an axe.

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, hone it.

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

On what shall I hone it, dear Liza, on what?

On a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, with what?

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, bucket.

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.  

Poor Henry, hopefully he can learn to solve without Liza around! :)