Is your baby stepping onto the yellow school bus for the first time this September? Or are you thinking about how the time is passing quickly as your child begins a new school year as a (insert your child’s grade here)__grader?
On his first day of Kindergarten, my oldest happily skipped down the steps of the bus and told us about his adventures on his first day of school. And then, he casually asked, “Mommy, what is the F-word?” I gasped. After I had regrouped, I told him that was a word that we didn’t use. Although he insisted on knowing what it meant, of course, I didn’t tell him. I went to bed that night feeling jaded about society and how we can’t protect our children from hearing inappropriate words, seeing graphic images, or whatever else I hadn’t even had a chance to worry about yet.
A few weeks later, my son came home after school and solemnly said, “Tell me the truth, Mommy. Is a weasel a fart?” I answered yes. With an injured look on his face, he accused, “I didn’t know that! You could have TOLD me! Everyone knew but me!”
You see, it had all started so innocently. When my oldest was in daycare as a baby, our daycare provider called passing gas a “weasel”. It originated from “Pop, goes the weasel”. Anyhow, somehow the name of this bodily function stuck in our family. It was a handy term, since nobody else knew what it meant. In a house where I am outnumbered by males and testosterone runs high, the word was used as defined in number three below. Although the origins of this word in our household designate it as a noun, over time, it also came to be used as a verb as demonstrated below. And, let me tell you, hilarity ensues when weasels happen (although I am the only one not laughing).
wea·sel
ˈwēzəl/
- noun
- a small, slender, carnivorous mammal related to, but generally smaller than, the stoat.
- informal
- a deceitful or treacherous person.
- flatulence, passing gas, fart.
- verb
- achieve something by use of cunning or deceit.
“she suspects me of trying to weasel my way into his affections”
- passed gas, farted “I accidentally weaseled”
As my boys are growing up faster than I can sometimes handle, it seems as if my oldest is leading the way. He led the way by telling me a few years ago that he wanted to go into the men’s restroom and no longer felt comfortable going into the ladies’ room with me. I am not sure when it happened, but he loathes the word “potty” and now emphatically calls it the “restroom”. Both of my boys reassure me that they will always call me “Mommy” (seriously?).
Are there words in your household that you don’t use any more because they are considered too “babyish”? If so, what are they and was it your idea to stop using these words or your child’s idea?
