Did you just say stupid? Oh no you didn't!

Hayleigh said the word "stupid" yesterday. It's true. She has older siblings. You know those kids with the "older siblings" ~ always way ahead of their time! I have to admit though, I am a little confused on how to react.

With the older kids, there was NO saying stupid. There was no saying shut up. One of the kids dropped an I-bomb (idiot) once and was chewing on a bar of soap faster than you could say, "Holy Overreaction, Batman!" Those, my friends, were very, very bad words.

Then they went to school.

I think we were about oh, 3 days into Kindergarten before someone called Trisha stupid. She was shocked that such foul language was allowed in this institution of learning and she was shocked that someone would direct that sort of foul language at her. And, she was shocked that no one in charge really seemed to care. To this day, Trisha does not like that girl. When I ask her why she doesn't hang out with her, Trisha will say, "remember, she called my stupid in Kindergarten." Never mind she's been called much worse by people she still hangs around. That's HOW shocking it was!

Then there was what we will refer to as "The Middle Finger Incident".

Another student told Trisha and Jonathan that they could not stick up their middle finger. Not knowing there was anything wrong with that and thinking this was purely a challenge of physical aptitude, Trisha and Jonathan gave this student ye ole double bird and said with pride, "See! Yes we can!". Just when they were marvelling at their feat of physical aptitude, just when they were thinking they were magical...maybe even biwinning...the bus driver looked up to see why everyone was gasping. And, well, I am sure you can imagine the rest of the story.

All this to say sometimes I wonder if I adequately prepared my children for the world. I wonder if teaching them not to use foul language, to be kind, to let others be first, to not promote yourself, to not tear others down...I wonder sometimes if that put them at a disadvantage. The world is a cruel game. School is, often times, a cruel game. How do I teach my children to be both a kind, caring, moral person, and still make sure they have enough chutzpah to survive? Maybe saying something is stupid isn't the end of the world.

Of course, maybe it is. What do I know? I am just the I**** mom who is STILL trying to figure it all out!