Doing What Mom Just Said

The Bully Who Defined Me

dowhatmomsaid — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:10:24 +0000

I was four years old. I had just started preschool. I was excited, interested, curious, I think. I knew a few kids in my class, the ones who lived on my street or whose parents were friends with my parents, but there were many new faces too. During the first few days of school the teacher created a calendar on the wall with all of our birthdays on it. I remember standing, looking at the wall, and smiling seeing my name up there with my birthday next to it. But then, without any notice and completely out of left field, my life changed.

“I don’t like my birthday” the beautiful blond girl with the cute clothes standing next to me said to the teacher.

“Why not?” asked the teacher.

“Because it is the same day as Annie’s birthday and I don’t like Annie.” she replied.

I’m not sure what the teacher said next. Probably something along the lines of “that isn’t a very nice thing to say” or “why would you say that?” I wasn’t really listening to the teacher at that point though. I was in shock. My world had been rocked. I didn’t even know this girl, we had only just met, and yet she had already decided she didn’t like me. There must be something horribly wrong with me.

Read more at PhD in Parenting

Avoid Embarassment: Check Your Kid’s Homework

dowhatmomsaid — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:51:16 +0000

Courtesy of http://www.funnyhub.com

The message the teacher received the next day was:

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn’t show me dancing around a pole. It’s supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Lingustic Creativity

dowhatmomsaid — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:38:19 +0000

Our recent holiday in Italy brought home to me what incredible creatures small children are. Catriona, who at the moment speaks more French than English, nevertheless seemed to know that she had to speak to us in English – so would demand “book” of her Grandfather every morning before breakfast, leading him by the hand to the sofa in the morning sun which streamed through the door. And by the end of the week she had learned to say “Ciao” to all the Italians who greeted her as “bellissima bambina”, though her preferred greeting remains “Hi!”

But the most memorable of her words is one which is all her own. Catriona hates having sticky hands or a dirty face – indeed, does not like anything to be messy, wet (mouillé – including the pool!) or untidy (brings on the need to “rangé” – arrange – the books, toys or whatever). Because of this urge to be clean, she is always demanding a damp wipe, like the one which which she is daintily dabbing ice cream off her face in the picture – in a cafe in Colle di Val d’Elsa. The French word for these wipes is “lingette”. But usually she uses them for her hands – “mains” in French – and so she demands a “maingette”.

I love it. In fact, whenever I feel my fingers sticky – like after picking up jam in Tesco – I feel the urge to wail “maingette!” Perhaps we ought to patent the name for future use. Ciao!

Post reproduced under Creative Commons license from blethers.