proverb · Words worth keeping
Children and chickens must be always picking.
Children and chickens must be always picking.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying pictures children and chickens continually picking at food. It groups two images of repeated small feeding into a broad claim of need.
What the words are saying
Always makes the pattern absolute. A careful reading can recognise an observation about frequent requests or small amounts without prescribing how children must eat. Their actual needs cannot be settled by comparison with animals. The useful discussion distinguishes noticing a recurring demand from assuming one routine suits everyone.
Everyday example
A caregiver asks what a child actually needs rather than interpreting every request through a fixed comparison.
When to use it
Use it to examine a broad feeding image with its limits stated.
What it does not mean
The comparison is not paediatric or nutritional guidance.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 244 · Children
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English