Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Using our words wisely

Now that Sienna is in preschool her delicate little shelter bubble has sprung a teeny tiny leak into which all sorts of interesting influences are sneaking through...

Ok, ok, it's probably a good thing since I'm fully willing to admit I'm a bit extreme in some instances such as maybe being guilty of whiting out parts of our classic children books that use words I don't care for and writing in my substitution in case someone else is reading our books to her... 

I'm also possibly known to edit song lyrics with less traumatic outcomes like "the craddle will fall, but not little baby who wasn't in it at all!"   What kind of a irresponsible parent leaves her child in a craddle tied to a tree on a windy day and then sings and dances about her catastrophic fall? 


Back to my point... our Delicate Little Flower has been expanding her vocabulary at school recently!


Unfortunately, I'm not talking about SAT prep here...


For instance, she discovered that there is more than one way to refer to your "bottom" and along with one of her new terms comes the perk of that elongated "U" sound, which also provokes uproaring laughter from her brothers. 

She has also learned that "tooting" is not descriptive enough when referring to some of the music coming from Jonah... alas, she has learned identifiers far less polite than passing gas to announce aromatic secrets. 


All these might sound funny to anyone other than the this little girl's mother... but it doesn't stop with potty talk.  I'm indebted to one little classmate  who introduced Sienna to the "s-t-u-p-i-d" word within the first month of school... without the other child's boisterous remarks in class I would've put off this much needed talk a bit longer... 

"Mommy, Jane (identity protected) called me 'a stupid' today!!" - Sienna
 
"Oh my!!  What did you say to Jane??"  -Me
 
"I said, Jane, please don't use those words!  I've never heard my mommy use that word, so I don't think it's a good one to say!" - Sienna
 
----heart melting and cheeks bleeding from surpressing a huge smile--- me
 
"Mommy, we do NOT say words like that in this family do we?" -Sienna
 
"Nope, Sweetie, we don't, if you've never heard Mommy say a word it's probably a good idea not to say it either unless you talk to me first.  Those words don't sound very nice do they?  What do you think she was trying to say?"  - Me
 
"I think 'a stupid' means you don't want to be someone's friend."  -Sienna
 
"Well, I'm not sure it means that, I bet you'd be a really good friend for her!  And since we don't really know what it means, we probably shouldn't ever use words like that." -Me


So I wasn't prepared for that talk at the time... but not too bad on my part right??  
 
 
Fast forward a few months to today...

"Ugh!!  Ouchy!! OUCH! Mom!! Mom!"  -Sienna screaming
 
"It's ok, it's ok, what happened??!" -me
 
"Oh HATE!  I mean, oops, I shouldn't use a naughty word, but I accidently rocked over my own foot and it hurts so bad."  - Sienna. 


Do you think I should admit to using slightly naughtier words under similar circumstances?? 


Of course not!  She still thinks I'm perfect :)


For the record, I have heard the "h-a-t-e" word sneak out from her before and even sometimes in a correct context and she knows we don't use that word... again, maybe overly ridiculous on my part, but it's really a very strong word and "don't care for" is more than appropriate in all substitute-able instances :)  

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, I envy your restraint! I was really good with language self-control for about four years, then it started going downhill! I still try to keep certain words out of circulation (like fat and words meaning stupid), but between school and my parents they end up getting exposed to them anyway. Still, knowing that certain words are hurtful and bad is half the battle. Sounds like Sienna is a very sensitive and kind child, good job!

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    1. Well... to be fair my substitutions still have the same effect :) The other day I heard Bash dropping his snack and yelling "Oh Shoot! Oh Shoot!" It won't be long before that word gets replaced I'm sure...

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