THE GOOD HOUSEKEEPING SEAL OF DISAPPROVAL

You can always count on a little kid to be blatantly honest when it comes to humiliation. The other night the neighborhood 4-year-old was over at Casa de la Flaming Bore with his sweet sis, and out of his mouth blurted, "You need to clean your house!!" He surveyed the living room with his critical, big brown eyes.

"Yes, I do," I admitted in shame. "There's cat fuzz everywhere." I wasn't going to argue with him.

"You need to clean up after those cats," he said, sounding like an admonishing father.

"I try, but I just can't keep up with Fluffy shedding so much." Excuses, excuses.

"Where's your broom?" Good grief! Does he have to get so personal?

"Out on the back porch. Do you want to sweep for me?"

Suddenly, he lost interest in de-fuzzing the place.

The next evening, he saw me out in the yard. "Hey, Nancy!! Whatcha doing?"

"Well, Double-Trouble, you'll be glad to know I got my living room swept up."

"Let's go see!" Geez. This kid won't give me a break.

"Oh, not right now. Fluffy has probably shed some more fuzz since I swept, and you'll point it out to me again and make me feel totally inadequate."

Thank god he didn't protest because he suddenly became more interested in a dead locust on the ground than in picking apart my housekeeping standards, or lack thereof.

"Ooooohhh!! It has ants all over it!!" he rolled in excitement. This from a kid who was repelled by cat fuzz the night before.

I'll never understand what makes guys tick. I don't even want to try. Whatever it is, it starts at an early age.