Less Do This

My kindergartener learned the "F" word yesterday.  The actual "F" word.

Ralphie from "A Christmas Story":  Only I didn't say "Fudge."  I said THE word, the big one, the queen mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!

Let me clarify that Griffin didn't say the "F" word.  A boy said it to him at lunch yesterday at school.  Then he told Griffin that it's a cuss word.  Griffin had never heard this word before.

Last night while I ran to Walmart (alone!), Griffin cornered Jared and asked him what the word means by incorrectly spelling it to Jared (Griffin left out the "c").  Not to worry, Jared handled it like a pro. 

Jared told him it's a word we never say, and he managed to dodge all of Griffin's questions about the actual meaning of the word.  He talked about how there are good and bad versions of words, or at least better ways to say things.  His example was that "be quiet" is a nicer version of "shut up."  This is a discussion we have with our kids a lot:  that some words aren't necessarily bad but we can find a nicer way to say something.  The "F" word is clearly on the cuss list.

When I returned home from Walmart (both refreshed by getting out alone and exhausted from the shopping and colliding with People of Walmart), Jared told me about the "F" word incident.

I took the opportunity to have a family lecture discussion reminding the kids that they can and should always talk to me and Jared when they hear something that doesn't sound right or they don't know what it means.  Griffin was originally crushed and upset when Jared first told him that word is an awful word that we don't say.  But then Griffin was beaming when we praised him for talking to us about what he heard.  I think everyone got the message.

If learning the "F" word in kindergarten is a sign of things to come, I don't know if I can handle my kids being out in the big wide world.
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In other school news...Nolan was promoted to Spy Leader 1 and actually started his own spy team at recess.

He keeps coming home with notes from his friends at school.  It makes me smile from my face down to my heart.

He brought home FOUR notes just today, and he helped me understand them:

To Nolan from Evan (last name removed for privacy).  You are the coolest person I know in school!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Awesome!!!!!!  Awesome

To Nolan.  We will go to the tree while the girls walk by us.  I will tell you the secret when we go to lunch.  Ok!!!!  I will just tell you now.  Ok we will chase the girls while they are by us ok!  And Ryan is going to play with us too ok.  See you at lunch.

These are play diagrams to show how the boys ("bas") will get away from the girls at recess.  The top play shows the boys pretending to run to one side and then actually running to the other side to fake out the girls.  Even Nolan couldn't figure out what was happening in the bottom diagram.

And my personal favorite:

Less do this = Let's do this

Oh, I love it!  This precious boy has told Nolan that he's awesome, explained their secret plan to fool the girls, and drawn diagrams to show how they'll pull it off.  He tops it off with one final motivational line.

Less do this.

Jessica