Life Lesson: Stupid

Stupid

Well, Olivia learned this word a long while ago now and it creeps up on us every now and then. At first she just said it to say the word, then she said it to Benjamin because it made him laugh, and now she is putting it together and not a nice way.

We aren't sure where she learned it, probably from a TV show, since I have heard it on many children's shows. Who knew children's shows were littered with words you never think of as "bad words". I only realized  recently that one of her favorite shows to watch had the kids in it calling each other stupid until we actually were paying attention it caught us completely off guard.

So a couple weekends ago as we were driving home I hear her say stupid really low, she always does this. It's almost as if she is just testing to see if I hear her. I turned around and reminded her that we don't say that word and she asked "why". Yup we entered the WHY stage about 3 months ago...so much fun! I said "because it's a bad word and we don't say bad words." which was followed by "why don't we say bad words" and so I turned it over to Ben to field that question. He said "because it is a bad word and bad is right in the name so we don't say it." Which was followed by a lot of questions...

-What if Correy calls me stupid?
-What if Hannah calls me stupid?
-What if Aunt Jamie calls me stupid?
-What is Daddy calls me stupid?

So we decided that if anyone calls her stupid she needs to tell her teacher, Mommy, or Daddy. But she is really stuck on the last one. I told her that I would spank Daddy if he ever said that to her, but she should know that he would never say that word to her.

I have been at a loss at how to explain this to her so hopefully we did a good enough job for now but I am sure that there will be more "stupid" questions in my future.