One of the things I enjoy most about the holidays is spending time around the children in my life. I have four teenage nieces and one getting ready to graduate college, and they continually amaze me with their energy and articulate thoughts. I’m in awe of the young women they are becoming — always gracious and poised. This generation is active in record numbers in volunteerism, the environment and community service.

The young kids provide another kind of joy altogether. They are so hopeful and innocent. You never really know what’s going to come out of their mouths, but, good or bad, their words are largely untouched by societal conventions, political correctness or even politeness.

Their words remind us how they see the world on a daily basis.

Through an informal poll of local moms, I’ve been collecting what I like to call “kid-isms,” those completely off-the-cuff remarks that tend to strike when you least expect it. Even better, they’re delivered without the hint of a smirk or stifling of a giggle.

Here are some of my favorites:
On people: “Mama, sometimes I like dogs better than people.”

On nursery rhymes: “Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an English muffin.”

On the alphabet: “Abcdefg, hijk and a little pee.”

On fur coats: “Mommy, why is that woman wearing a dog? Can I pet him?”

On parent conflict: “You need to be like the Care Bears and be caring.”

On hair: “Mommy, your hair is a crazy mess today. It makes goose bumps pop up on my arms!”

On Halloween candy: “Daddy, that’s sour. It makes water come out of my eyes.”

On dinner: (In response to an invitation for a meal of French toast and bacon): “No thanks. I don’t like French food.”

On NASCAR: “Dad, can we watch nasty cars on TV?”

On strength: “Mom, my bones are so strong, they’re like a garbage can. They just don’t break.”

On pregnancy: (Peering through his mom’s belly button at a sibling-to-be): “What is he wearing in there?”

On money: “We can buy that. You have $13.”

On another note, this time of year can also be a painful reminder of another holiday passed without children. I know several women who are currently struggling with infertility. “Fertility and Sterility,” a journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, estimates one in 10 married couples in the U.S. are “infertile,” which the journal defines as trying for 12 months without becoming pregnant.

The struggle of infertility is not only physical but emotional and financial as well. There are many options for infertile couples, including tests, medication, hormones, in-vitro fertilization and intra-uterine insemination, adoption and fostering. But each option comes with trials, and the experience can be invasive, expensive and emotionally taxing, regardless of the road chosen.

I’d like to explore this topic in this column and invite readers to start a dialogue about their struggles with infertility. It can be tough to be so open about personal struggle, but there is much to be gained in sharing with each other — not only for the support we can offer and receive, but for the information we may gain. How do couples handle these struggles and what insights have they gained along the way?

Parenting is a joy much of the time and sometimes a challenge, but for an estimated 6 million Americans, the biggest challenge of all is in simply getting there.