Friday, October 24, 2008

The Middle Finger

The other morning at breakfast, Ashley started telling me a story about something that happened in school. As she always does when she is unsure of herself or worried something will get her in trouble, she was talking really quietly. She went on to tell me a friend in her class told her about using her middle finger at someone, and Ashley wanted to know what it meant.

"What do you think it means?" I asked.

"That you don't like God." Huh. That was interesting.

I went on to inform her it meant something mean towards the person it was aimed at, kind of like calling another person a name. A really, really bad name. She knew it was a bad thing, she just didn't understand it.

And seriously, if these are the questions I am getting in KINDERGARTEN, what in the hell is she going to ask me in middle school?

Oh, and go here if you want to read my review of HSM3!!

11 comments:

Lori said...

Isn't it sad that in today's society the innocence of childhood is taken away so much earlier. But, it's hard when parents don't want to censor themselves in front of their children and therefor have to explain things way before children would have learned about it in the past. In a society where flipping someone off while driving seems to be a norm, no wonder children are asking about it earlier and earlier

Terri said...

It is amazing what they learn in school (ie the things they shouldn't be learning until YEARS from now).

Loved the review. I can't wait to see it!

That Chick Over There said...

She'll ask what fellatio is.

Says the woman who's daughter asked what it was after hearing it on the bus.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh how quickly they "learn" these days :-(

My little dude has been telling me about the "middle finger equivalent" in other cultures . . . WTH?! Where do they GET this stuff! I urged him to do a little research to make sure he wasn't being told a story - but STILL! Why does this even come up as a topic of conversation with the other little boys?

Sheesh

Frannie said...

holy cow! that is scary stuff from a little one!

Anonymous said...

What's sad is I remember growing up and asking my Mom what something meant. However, it wasn't something like that. It's scary to think of what our kids our "learning" in school.

My kid's not even IN school yet and I'm already scared!

SJINCO said...

Yes it's sad that our kids are being exposed to this stuff so much earlier in life.

Very scary!

debi9kids said...

It freaks me out knowing they learn this kind of stuff so early.
My daughter had THREE pregnant girls in her EIGHTH GRADE class last year. I aboout died when i found out. UGH
What a world!

Laura said...

It is crazy what they learn at school...hang in there!!!!

Pamela said...

I was sheltered in the sixties.

I remember hearing a sixth grade classmate calling another one a name - and I didn't know what it meant,.

I asked my mom and she told me to look it up in the dictionary - which didn't help me because I didn't know how to spell it.

I am saddened by how such language and action has permeated our society today. I was in P(rtland OR last weekend and saw an ad in the newspaper inert that use the "F" word to describe a sandwich at a local shop.

Parker said...

A couple of weeks ago I picked my kids up from school and they started fighting in the backseat. My 8 yr old son said "Mom, she just stuck up her middle finger at me". My reply: You know how we talked about the word a**hole last week? Sticking up your middle finger is worse than calling him an a**hole. I heard her quietly reply "Ty, your an a**hole". By the way, she's 5!