Oh Pickles!

I had the privilege of being the baby, an only child and an underage aunt. My elder siblings are very old and so they were college bound and reproducing while I was still pursuing my 6th grade diploma. So it was no secret that indeed I was spoiled beyond belief, or so the elders will tell you. The fact that as they moved out I inherited anything left seems forgotten and thus my room became full of treasures. I can't lie, it was awesome.

Then came the little people, a niece and nephews that I had to be a role model to when I myself was just crawling out of my knee high socks and into my bell bottom pants and earth shoes. Tons of responsibility. But it did provide lots of practice in having children quote back what I had just said and realizing that some of the things were not that great for little ears. And it also caused me to think about what I was living, what I was practicing.

Then years later along came my son, who like all normal children, speaks constantly and included in his hours of didactics are quotes of the day from whomever he is around that day. And indeed, the regurgitation of conversations from friends, strangers and family on occasion leave a LOT to be desired. One thing that seemed to be rapidly adapted to was the use of slang or a profanity he would overhear at program from the young care takers or other clients. YIKES!

Just like the scene in The Christmas Story where the adorable young son blurts out a four letter expletive our precious baby appropriately replied to a question using a profanity that I knew he did not learn in our house. And just as quickly as the mother in the movie screamed and called the guilty parties mom, I was on the phone first to my husband and then to the program. A flurry of memos and apologies flew through the backpack and email and fortunately we have averted such a crisis again.

But one thing it caused us to do was to be sure that if our son needed it, he had a safe word to use for frustration. Pickles! They are fun, green but kind of icky tasting. My view, but I am sticking with it. SO now if he drops something, makes a mistake, etc he can be heard declaring "Oh Pickles!" which is usually followed by a giggle or a "that's silly". He has learned, at least in most cases, to find a little humor in frustration. Now I am the one learning from observation and when I forget and my ears turn red, my son will say "Mom, take a deep breath and count to 10. Oh Pickles".