Kids say the darndest things, don’t they? Whether they’re learned from us or picked up from friends, family, or television, there’s no denying the fact that most of the time our innocent little children unabashedly say the first things that come into their heads.
My middle child who just turned 5, for instance, is always full of hand-to-forehead inducing things to say. We’ll be in a public restroom and she’ll open up her stall to declare that she’s done a “really really big poopy – mommy come look!” And then of course there was the incident last week…
It started off as a regular afternoon at robotics club, when my two younger children sat down at the table to wait while their older sister worked on her robot. The only table available had a woman, who happened to be very heavy, sitting down with her leg up on one of the chairs.
We sat down at the table. “Why is your leg on the table?” my 5 year old asked. “Because my knees don’t bend so well.” the woman kindly replied.
[My husband later said that as this innocent question was asked there should have been typhoon-siren warnings horns going off in my head.] In reality, however, I continued to unpack our bags and get settled in…oblivious to what was coming.
“Why is your leg SO fat?”
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
First of all: fat is a word that is literally never used in our house.
Second: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
So the question is, what do you do when your child says something so embarrassing that you have no idea how to respond?
1. Pretend it didn’t happen; or
2. Apologize for their behavior.
I’ll be honest, I panicked and did #1; I immediately picked up our Nook tablet and said “Why don’t you come and read a book!” I saw the woman’s face as she initially tried to deciper what my daughter had said, followed by the horrified look as she realized what had actually come out of her mouth. Quickly handing my daughter the tablet I lowered my eyes in embarrassment and tried to get really busy really quickly with my two year old.
I’ll also admit that in hindsight I wish I had apologized. The first chance I had alone with my daughter, which was only about 15 minutes after the “incident”, we talked about manners and what is and is not appropriate to say to people. Later that night when we got home we talked more about words that are and aren’t nice to use.
Now, at the end of the day, as I look at how strictly I monitor the television and media they’re exposed to and the rules of manners in our home, I still have no idea where she learned to call someone fat. Then again, I also have no idea where she learned to summon people over so they could ogle over the size of her poopies.
So, perhaps I should just take it easy on myself, shrug my shoulders, and admit that I’m still learning about this whole parenting thing.
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Now it’s your turn…what’s the most embarrassing thing your child has ever said?
