When the girls were in nursery school in New York, they learned all sorts of things, as you’d expect. But a few stuck with me because they were catchy little rhymes meant to help them remember. One of those has stayed with me all these years, and I still use it as a reference today:
You get what you get and you don’t get upset.
The teachers would say it when the kids were picking teams, or snacks, or whatever else was being handed out. Naturally, some kids would get upset if they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. The rhyme was a simple way to set expectations and keep things fair.
I love it because it’s so blunt, so true, and surprisingly useful. These days I use it now and again at work. People often want to do things that simply aren’t possible, and they’re not thrilled with the alternatives. That’s when I’ll joke that I learned long ago from my kids’ nursery teachers: you get what you get and you don’t get upset.
It always makes me laugh. Not everyone finds it as amusing as I do, but it’s one of those little truths of life that’s hard to argue with.