Friday, May 2, 2008

Snippet

Leaving the grocery store yesterday afternoon, trotting toward the car:

Emma: Hey Mom? Remember that whale and dolphin show at Sea World?

Me: Yes.

Andrew: Yeah - but some of those costumes were really ugly!

Emma: (little offended noises)

Me: Now, Andrew, is that really something subjective or objective?

Andrew: (defensive) I'm just sharing what I thought! I know it's my opinion.

Me: You should probably preface a statement like that, then, with "I think" the costumes were ugly. You can't unequivocally state that they were ugly. (no wonder my kids are a mess - I use words like unequivocally when I talk to them!)

Andrew: I know. (translation: "whatever")

Emma: Well, I think that they were all beautiful!

3 comments:

Mary said...

lavish them with such a mess maker as a good vocabulary. They'll never regret having an better understanding of their world. And they'll certainly be better able to express themselves...I mean..."I THINK" you should lavish them...

Christy said...

Mary, that's something I believe in the very core of my being! My parents did that for me - especially my dad - and it has served me well. It's also made me lots of friends. There was one Travis Button who thought I was the funniest little kid who used such big words. He and his friend Kevin used to enjoy giving me vocabulary quizzes and generally testing my English skills :)

Amy Button said...

Hey, I know a Travis Button :) I can totally see him doing that. Actually, I do see him doing that with our girls all the time. And we don't "dumb down" our vocabulary to talk to our kids either.