...I want to be a MoFo."
Mighty Mo told me this as I drove him to school. Apparently one of the kids calls him MoFo.
I am thinking that at four years old, his friend has no clue to the adult slang of that term. Please Lord I hope not. It was part of a rhyming game they played at school with their names.
Without really using the word, (so there is no reinforcement) I am trying to tell my son, who is extremely polite and solicitous for his age and tells his mommy when people say "Shut Up" on tv, that 'MoFo" is not a proper term to be called and when he hears that he should tell that person his nickname is Mighty Mo or Super Mo or Dinosaur Mo or MoMo or just Mo as thats his nickname already.
He became quite upset with me and then whined that his mommy said it was okay. Oh she did? So I called Mistress and put her on speaker phone and made him talk to her.
After her laughs subsided, she backed me up. I walked Mo into the play yard, reminding him that I love him and that being called MoFo is like being told to Shut Up. Its not appropriate conversation. I also told the teacher at the yard and she said she would follow up for me, since Mo told me who said it.
Mo may be many things but he won't know those types of negative reinforcement until our conversations are PG-13 and not G rated.
"Mo, using that word is TALL TALK. You can only use SMALL TALK."
"You mean when I am bigger, daddy."
"Yes, when your bigger."
"When I am five?"
"Ahhhhh. No."
"Six?"
"When you're much taller, Mo."
"Buutttt Daddddy. I want to be taller now."
"But mommy and daddy don't."
"Okay. I won't be a MoFo till I'm bigger."
Mighty Mo told me this as I drove him to school. Apparently one of the kids calls him MoFo.
I am thinking that at four years old, his friend has no clue to the adult slang of that term. Please Lord I hope not. It was part of a rhyming game they played at school with their names.
Without really using the word, (so there is no reinforcement) I am trying to tell my son, who is extremely polite and solicitous for his age and tells his mommy when people say "Shut Up" on tv, that 'MoFo" is not a proper term to be called and when he hears that he should tell that person his nickname is Mighty Mo or Super Mo or Dinosaur Mo or MoMo or just Mo as thats his nickname already.
He became quite upset with me and then whined that his mommy said it was okay. Oh she did? So I called Mistress and put her on speaker phone and made him talk to her.
After her laughs subsided, she backed me up. I walked Mo into the play yard, reminding him that I love him and that being called MoFo is like being told to Shut Up. Its not appropriate conversation. I also told the teacher at the yard and she said she would follow up for me, since Mo told me who said it.
Mo may be many things but he won't know those types of negative reinforcement until our conversations are PG-13 and not G rated.
"Mo, using that word is TALL TALK. You can only use SMALL TALK."
"You mean when I am bigger, daddy."
"Yes, when your bigger."
"When I am five?"
"Ahhhhh. No."
"Six?"
"When you're much taller, Mo."
"Buutttt Daddddy. I want to be taller now."
"But mommy and daddy don't."
"Okay. I won't be a MoFo till I'm bigger."
10 comments:
That's awesome. What a great job of explaining it to the little guy.
one year for Christmas, my kids were excited about the Toy Story figures they got....... "Wow just what I always wanted - a big buzz and a big woody." We had a really hard time trying to explain why everyone was giggling at their joyful outburst. Some things are just tough to explain to the little ones without laughing.
Oh my!!! Yes, let's hope that is a cases of repetition, not understanding.
(I want to be taller now, too!)
One thing he'll never be is a MoFo!
Whew! So far we haven't had any of these talks - well, except the talk about calling things we don't like "BOOOORRING" and the one about black negro ... (meaning black, I think/hope is how she meant it).
Very funny and you did a great job handling the discussion.
I can't wait to read your stories about your talks with Mo on the differences between boys and girls.
Out of the mouths of babes.
my girls were told (by some spawn of Satan at school) that the middle finger means a very bad word. they don't know what, but it's bad.
I too, think they have no clue what they're talking about, so I play dumb. A lot.
But then, one of them got mad at me and flipped me the bird - without knowing what it meant - I said, you might want to re-think that, kid. I never lost my cool, but I think it will probably come up again...
It's dangerous territory, the adult social context thing.
What a great way to diffuse things. The punchline made me laugh!
Tall talk?
Oh dear. Must self-censor more...
Hey, waitaminute! You're not all that tall yourself there pal....
LOL - Thanks for the lite laughter Comm. The innocence is what makes it so great. Excellent job on the part of Mom and Dad!!
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