Kelly and I helped teach Sunday school yesterday. The day’s Bible lesson was from Daniel; it was the story of how Daniel and his three friends chose to drink water and eat vegetables in Babylon instead of eating the meat and rich food that the king offered them.
So we talked to the kids about how some friends are a good influence in their lives and others aren’t, and how they, like Daniel, can help their friends make good choices. To help make it concrete, we asked them to think of the friends they have who help them make good choices and those who don’t.
When asked about friends who weren’t a good influence, one little boy looked up at me and said “I have a friend who said ‘God is the S-word.’”
“The S-word?“ I must have looked a little incredulous. These kids are in third grade.
“Oh, not S-H-I-T,” he said, spelling it with practiced ease. “The other S-word.”
All the boys suddenly went quiet for a moment at his reference to the other S-word. And my mind went into overdrive. The other S-word? What were they talking about? Was my vocabulary of vulgar and/or profane language actually aging to the point where I didn’t know all the cusses of the new generation?
Kids can spot a phony a mile away. There was no point in pretending I knew what was going on. I swallowed my pride.
“The, uh, other S-word?” I managed.
“Yeah,” said the boy. “Stupid.”
If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t even get “S-H-I-T” when I was at the point of “S-word,” much less stupid.
(Welcome back, Jonathan!)
On the other hand, saying that God is the “S-H-I-T” these days is actually a praise! (In a strange way.)
I love them. I love them all so much. The boys say much crazier things than the girls do, but the girls are wonderfully sweet and mischievous all the same.
Hi Kelly and Jonathan, You guys have a great name for a site and a very nice blog. I just found it by typing in your URL. Here’s why I’m commenting… You see, I’m a music artist and I’ve created a music CD (primarily for kids) called, “I’ve Got a Dinosaur on My Head!” …and Track #3 is a song called “Sometimes I Have Oatmeal for Breakfast” So I bet we have people looking for us in each others’ sites! It would be cool to have you take a listen to my oatmeal song. I’m hoping it’s ok to leave this comment since your site (name at least) is about oatmeal and you just posted an article about cute kids…and I’m a children’s music artist with a song about oatmeal…etc. :O) If you do visit and listen, please let me know by feedback or guestbook. Best wishes to you both.