Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Expanding vocabulary

The first year of kindergarten is in its home stretch, and I must say it's been a resounding success.

Our kid has made great progress, both academically and socially. It's all that you could hope for as a parent doing this for the first time. Last night, my kid read a story to me before bedtime.

We've always tried to encourage our daughter to be inquisitive, to ask questions and be interested in learning new things.

That's not to say that there haven't been a few surprises along the way, like the time she wanted to dissect a dead snake, for example.

Another such surprise came a few days ago.

I'd just picked up the kiddo from school. She was in the backseat buckled in to her booster and we were going over the highlights of the day.

Then she came at me with this gem:
kiddo: Dad, there's something I wanted to ask you.

me: Okay. What is it.

kiddo: "Is 'ass' a bad word?"

me: Uhh...

me: Um. Well, yeah. It's kind of a bad word.

kiddo: Oh. Okay.

me: Most of the time it's not a nice thing to say. Your mom would probably get mad is she heard you say it.

kiddo: Okay.

me: you should probably look for ways to say what you want to say without using that word?

kiddo: Okay. I haven't said it. I heard someone at school say it, so I just wanted to know if it was bad.
And... scene.

Just a gentle reminder that the teachers aren't the only people teaching our kids at school.

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3 comments:

  1. I have a special rule about bad words - do not repeat. I don't have any desire or capability to guard my kid from any of that. I told her - if you hear something - don't repeat it and I don't want to be called to school on that account. Otherwise, I don't care.

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  2. Good advice, even for those of us with teenagers. Indeed, especially for those of us with teenagers.

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  3. Hi. I'm Faith. I grew up in a house that didn't say words any worse than "dammit" every now and then. My mom started saying "shit" when I was in college, and it sounded very odd.

    Have you read my blog? Ok, good. Because all of that kind of taking (and I guarantee you, that IS how I talk, even out loud...) started the moment I moved out, and started college. They're just words. Why do any of them have to be considered "bad" or "improper" or "against the rules"? I never will understand that. Which is probably another good reason for me not to have children, eh? :)

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