By Clare Marie Celano
Correspondent
Children may very well be more serious and insightful than adults realize or give them credit for, according to Alyssa Cowit.
Cowit, 29, who was raised in Manalapan, teaches elementary education in New York City. In an interview, Cowit said she saw so much evidence of the wisdom of her students that she began to document some of the things they said.
Those comments and quotes eventually found themselves on Twitter in January 2015 and by May, Cowit had set up an Instagram account she called LiveFromSnackTime.
Cowit said the response to the material was so overwhelming that she decided to put the children’s comments in a book.
“I Did My Homework in My Head” (And Other Wacky Things Kids Say) was written by Cowit and coauthored by graphic designer Greg Dunbar. It was released on April 4 by Penquin Random House.
Dunbar, a longtime friend of Cowit, is a digital marketing manager with Walt Disney Studios.
Together, Cowit and Dunbar have grown LiveFromSnackTime to more than 60,000 followers and have received accolades from HelloGiggles, “Cosmopolitan,” Babble, ABC News, BuzzFeed and Ashton Kutcher.
Cowit, who is the daughter of Drew and Carrie Cowit of Manalapan, lives in New York City and Dunbar lives in Los Angeles.
Kutcher said, “23 hilariously honest thoughts from kindergartners that are actually kinda deep: A+”
LiveFromSnackTime was featured on “Good Morning America.” Host Michael Strahan referenced the site, stating, “The Instagram illustrates all the hilarious quotes teachers hear their students say.”
Strahan cited some of the children’s quotes: “If I don’t want to go somewhere, I just throw up” and “I can’t wait until I’m a dad so I can pick all the restaurants.”
Cowit was interviewed by ABC News for its website.
She graduated from Ithaca College with a bachelor’s degree in speech and language pathology and earned a master’s degree in early childhood education from New York University.
Cowit has appeared at several area book stores to discuss her book, including Barnes and Noble in Freehold Township, which she visited on April 5 for a book signing and discussion.
Cowit said the idea to document what her students say began at the end of a school day.
“I always ask my students what they got out of the day’s lesson,” she said. “Their comments were so interesting. They really are quite brilliant and I decided to begin documenting their comments.”
Although Cowit, who has been teaching primarily 5- through 8-year-olds, acknowledges that although many of the children’s comments were quite funny, there was also a lot of truth in what they said.
“They are honest and they think things out,” she said. “When I shared my Twitter comments with Greg, he suggested adding images to go with the quotes to bring the quotes alive. That’s how we started the Instagram which then evolved into a book.”
Cowit said the photos that are posted on the Instagram account LiveFromSnackTime are pulled from different sources.
“The images are solely used to bring the quote to life, to add emotion and humor,” she said.
“The goal of LiveFromSnackTime and our new book is to not only make adults laugh, but for us to understand the truth and honesty in these comments from children,” Cowit said. “In most cases they are not seeking attention, but really have these big emotions and interesting questions about the world.
“It’s their job to push boundaries, think out loud and problem solve. It’s our job to guide them. If a child is upset or having a tantrum, adults need to listen and address these moments to bring clarity to these situations. People should take these children’s comments seriously and not just brush it off as something funny.”
To illustrate an example, Cowit cited an interaction between herself and a student.
“During a reading lesson one of my students lost a tooth and accidentally swallowed it,” she said. “He could not control his tears and yelling. I asked him why he was so angry. He said, ‘It’s going to slice me up from the inside.’
“I could have just sent him to the bathroom to calm himself down, but I addressed it right away. I said, ‘Our teeth do slice up food for our bodies, but your body is safe.’ This was a new experience for him. Why would I expect that he knew this? These types of situations come up daily as a child,” she said.
Cowit said the response to LiveFromSnackTime has led to thousands of submissions of children’s quotes from all over the world. She and Dunbar review submissions to the site on a daily basis.
“It is so interesting that kids across the world are all saying basically the same type of things. The children have similar comments all over the world based on their age and developmental level,” she said.
Some other quotes from LiveFromSnackTime include the following:
• “On snow days, do teachers teach their plants?”
• “If everything in the world is made up of Adams, then what is made up of Eves?”
• “My teacher thinks there are eggs inside of girls. Ha Ha.”
• “I did my homework, but my backpack is locked. Sorry.”
Cowit said she believes children are honest and curious, and while they may sometimes appear perplexed, they are brilliant and it is a teacher’s job to take seriously the things that children say.
“I want to help adults understand that children are not always acting outrageously to seek attention, but instead thinking out loud, soaking up new information and solving problems 24/7,” she said.
