A Note on My Niece
A few months ago, my sister related the following story. I thought it appropriate to repeat it here.
Katie (we'll call her Katie to protect the innocent or questionably innocent) and her brother, Cody (ditto), love to challenge their father on the family's newly acquired X-Box. Being the precocious and competitive children they are at six and seven, they often acquit themselves well. One morning Katie entered the basement to find her brother demolishing Dad and responded by exclaiming, "Dad, Cody's kicking your -bleep- (insert appropriately naughty word here)"
Cody hardly budged but Dad did a flip and nearly fell out of his chair. "Katie, dear, we don't talk like that," he suggested with considerable restrain.
"Like what?"
"Well, do you know what that means?"
"No, but the kids at school say it all the time."
Dad thought it over for a time and, after consulting with Mom, he broke the news to Katie that she had sworn. Katie was devastated. She was nearly inconsolable. My sister, of course, saw the opportunity to teach a valuable lesson and so she grabbed both Cody and Katie and, in a soft, soothing voice she began. "Now, Katie," she started, "haven't you heard some of the bad words the kids say at school."
"I don't know, Mom. The kids say lots of words. I don't know which ones are swear words and which ones aren't."
Cody nodded his head and chipped in. "Yeah, Mom, we don't know. Maybe you and Dad should just sit down and tell us all the swear words you know so that we know what they are and we don't say 'em."
Makes all the sense in the world. Ah, the joys of parenting. I wanted so badly to be there when the list began.
Katie (we'll call her Katie to protect the innocent or questionably innocent) and her brother, Cody (ditto), love to challenge their father on the family's newly acquired X-Box. Being the precocious and competitive children they are at six and seven, they often acquit themselves well. One morning Katie entered the basement to find her brother demolishing Dad and responded by exclaiming, "Dad, Cody's kicking your -bleep- (insert appropriately naughty word here)"
Cody hardly budged but Dad did a flip and nearly fell out of his chair. "Katie, dear, we don't talk like that," he suggested with considerable restrain.
"Like what?"
"Well, do you know what that means?"
"No, but the kids at school say it all the time."
Dad thought it over for a time and, after consulting with Mom, he broke the news to Katie that she had sworn. Katie was devastated. She was nearly inconsolable. My sister, of course, saw the opportunity to teach a valuable lesson and so she grabbed both Cody and Katie and, in a soft, soothing voice she began. "Now, Katie," she started, "haven't you heard some of the bad words the kids say at school."
"I don't know, Mom. The kids say lots of words. I don't know which ones are swear words and which ones aren't."
Cody nodded his head and chipped in. "Yeah, Mom, we don't know. Maybe you and Dad should just sit down and tell us all the swear words you know so that we know what they are and we don't say 'em."
Makes all the sense in the world. Ah, the joys of parenting. I wanted so badly to be there when the list began.
posted by Cool Dad at Wednesday, March 30, 2005
2 Comments:
Tom, I hope you will always remember your swearing experience with the words that Grandpa taught you. It is always such a difficult thing to let your children go out into the world and learn what garbage is there. You and travis seem to have irked some anonymous person. Love dad
Just a short note on your niece, she came home the other day from school, and was devastated that she was so small. She related several incidents that she had encountered that fellow classmates had teased her about. Her mother, called an older lady, that was small, and had her give wise counsel to your niece. The counsel was this: Hannah, being small I have never had a problem finding clothes that fit me. I was always able to wear the best clothes. Hannah, being fashion conscious, was elated and went to school, to relate to her class how glad she was to being small.
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