Friday, June 5th, 2009...1:28 pm
good kindergarten work gone bad
Things are hardly ever black and white in the world of parenting. If they are for you, congratulations and yes, Fox News is fair and balanced!
Some bad actions are clearly bad–hitting someone, pushing someone, or other violence. Although, even then, a time might arise when you are proud of when your offspring does them. Kid punched a boy at school, and we had a hard time being mad about it when she was only protecting her friends. See? Grey area.
Yesterday, Kid was mad at me. I can’t even remember why. She may not either, although her mind is remarkably good about recalling all maternal infractions dating back to age 2.75.
While she was on time out, she made good use of time: she wrote a note. (we’ve really come far from smearing body lotion on the bedroom furniture!)
They’ve been practicing sounding out words at school, and often, at home she wimps out and whines for help on writing words, rather than sounding them out herself.
This time she did her work all on her own. No one pushed her, no one told her what to write (obviously), no one helped.
The good news: during time out, she wrote an entire sentence and even signed her name (which I cropped out).
The bad news: the sentence was “dear mom you are stupid.”

I’m so warped I was kinda proud of her.
Naturally, I didn’t tell her that.
Instead, I lectured her about the power of words and using them in non-mean ways, blahblahblah.
But, really, I was silently noticing her noun-verb agreement and her dotting the “i.”
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10 Comments
June 5th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Wendy,
You are not alone. I am sopio too!
June 5th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Hilarious!
June 5th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
She is brilliant! A creative thinker; assertive; a good speller (at least on the words that really matter, like “mom” and “you.”)
I say you get her angry more often, then stick her in Time Out with a pen & paper and see what she comes up with.
Brookes last blog post..Play therapy
June 5th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Love that you support her independence!
Kathleen@ForgingAheads last blog post..Horses and Bikes
June 6th, 2009 at 10:57 am
She probably felt daring — writing one of those “bad,bad words” she heard about at school. Wonder if she actually understands the definition of that “bad” word. (Even some adults don’t clearly distinguish between “opinion” and “objective, factual” reporting on news shows or in newspapers.)
June 6th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The drive to write and express her feelings – I think both are pretty awesome, even when the feelings come out in that rough, 5-year-old kind of way.
Tracys last blog post..Things I’ve considered blogging about and haven’t
June 7th, 2009 at 8:07 am
At least she wrote it on paper…my kids had a bad habit of writing on walls…Thank God it was only in pencil!
June 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
So does the mean there are 2 “S” words she shouldn’t use?
June 10th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Oh, you gotta save that. Then, take it out and use it when she’s a teenager!
Kerries last blog post..The First Birthday Party: What Not To Do
June 11th, 2009 at 6:12 am
LOL.
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