Tales of Chewing Gum

Team Intrigued …Leader – Wendy Livingston

Unofficial – Becca / Jake Livingston

In the beginning …

As the mother of 6-year old twins, I routinely argue with them about NOT chewing gum. They routinely don’t listen.

As “unofficial” members of my team, I asked for their input on this assignment. This led to an interesting conversation and the start of chewing gum tales. Hmmm …

Minds of 6 year olds

• Can’t I make gum that Barbie can chew?

~ Becca

• I can use gum to hold my Legos together.

~ Jakob

• My dance teacher won’t let me chew gum in class.

~ Becca

• Does MacGyver use gum?

~ Jakob

Hey, Becca & Jake …

I remember grandma telling me:

• Gum chewing girls and gum chewing cows are somewhat alike yet different somehow.

• Oh, yes, I see it now. The intelligent look on the face of the cow.

~ Mom (aka Wendy Livingston)

• One time while we were deployed in Afghanistan, our antenna broke and we had nothing to fix it.

• We received a lot of gum in care packages. We began to chew.

• We wrapped the chewed gum around the breaks to hold the antenna together.

• Looked very weird – white spots against the green antenna - but it did the trick until we could get a new one!

~ Uncle Jeremy

(aka Jeremy Wagoner, U.S. Navy)

• Don’t fall asleep while chewing gum. Unless you want to wake up with gum stuck in your hair!

~ our Danish au pair

(aka Malene Loevlund Bloch)

• I hear peanut butter gets gum out of hair.

~ Rob Purdy

(a friend of mom’s)

• Olive oil gets chewing gum out of hair.

~ Aunt Jo

(aka Jo Shapiro)

• My friend's father came over to the United States after World War II. He saw people just moving their jaws around in circles constantly and had no idea what was going on. It was the first time he saw people chewing gum.

~ David Dannenbaum

(childhood friend of mom’s)

• As a kid I remember being soooo in love with gum and ALWAYS having to have a piece, okay it gets gross....I would take my gum out at night, stick to headboard and when I woke in the morning, pop it back in my mouth.

~ Kim Engelmann Bareuther

(Mom’s mom friend)

• Does chewing gum lose it’s flavor on the bed post overnight?

~ Aunt Niki

(aka Niki Holmes, High School English Teacher)

• Our 8th grade teacher, Mr. Thompson, would make us put the gum on the tip of our nose if he caught us chewing in his class. I had to wear Hubba Bubba.

~ Colleen McCaffrey Grist

(childhood friend of mom’s)

• Having to spend an hour in the orthodontist’s chair because I showed up for a braces check with gum in my mouth. It took him that long to pick it out. Did that hurt!!

~ Mom

• My favorite flavor is tropical fruit.

~ Becca

• My favorite flavor is watermelon.

~ Jakob

• We don’t like cinnamon gum.

~ Becca & Jakob

In the end …

• The value of this chewing gum project was not in the creation of a physical use for the gum the kids are chewing …

• But rather the time we spent together laughing and talking about the gum …

• And including family and friends …

Priceless!