Monday, January 24, 2011

Sometimes When You Poke a Bear They Bite Back

There are a couple of kids in our neighborhood that Alfalfa doesn't always "gel" with. He generally doesn't meet a stranger, but there are a couple of kids that either like to play a little to rough, or they are just snotty, rude and make cutting remarks. These boys happen to be just slightly younger than Alfalfa, but it sure doesn't hurt any less.

This past Friday, the kids had gotten home from school and were running-a-muck in the street. The kids were running here and there, from backyard to backyard, and they were having a glorious time of it. While I was standing outside talking to a couple of the other mothers, Alfalfa rode his scooter past me (headed to another friend's backyard with a few boys), gave me a little smirk, and I just waved to him as he passed.

About five minutes later, one of Scarlett's BFF's walked up to me and said, "Alfalfa and Jake were yelling at each other in our backyard, and Alfalfa told Jake that he was going to kick his....(awkward pause)...and Alfalfa said the A-word". I pressed the little diva to know exactly what the A-word was that Alfalfa used, because let's be honest, the F-word to little kids means FART or some other silly word, and I wanted to make sure that we were in fact dealing with a legitimate swear word before raising an eyebrow. ....And of course we were. Alfalfa had told Jake, "I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!".

A few things.  First, I was horrified, shocked, and a little embarrassed....after all, my son's potty mouth was being exposed right there in front of MY PEERS. Second, I wanted to know what exactly that little turd Jake had done to prompt my perfect little angel to spew such profanities from his virgin lips. I mean, my children, would NEVER utter such an offense!! *cough cough*  Third, I was glad to hear that at least if he was gonna throw it out there, he was savvy enough to use the word in the right context and put some power behind it.

After I got Alfalfa home and we got down to the nitty-gritty of it all, he fully admitted that he told Jake he was gonna kick his ass. He also said that he was tired of Jake saying mean things to him. See there? HE WAS PROVOKED!

I scolded him a little, but didn't go overboard. I told him that he shouldn't use words like that and encouraged to find better words to put in his vocabulary that mean equally the same things, but won't land him in hot water with the other moms.

....and then I packed him up and sent him over to his friend's house for a sleepover.



~Ethel~

2 comments:

  1. He should totally kick his a-word.

    And what kind of grown woman can't just spit out the word ass.

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  2. Good for him for having the courage to stick up for himself! I get upset because Noah totally gets stepped all over. If I tell them they can't watch television in Noah's room and walk back there and the television is on, Noah's friend is the kind that automatically jumps up and says, "Noah! Why did you turn on the tv? I didn't even WANT to watch tv!!" and throws Noah under the bus. Noah isn't that quick-thinking so he just stands there and says, " I don't know. I guess I wasn't thinking." I wish he would stick up for himself sometime.

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