"That's not true."
Almost every day my six-year-old comes home from Kindergarten and shares a little tidbit of wisdom she got from a teacher. It's usually something profound like "green means go, red means stop" or "sugar causes cavities" (which didn't seem to impress her when I told her that).
The other day she told me, "Water is healthy; tea is not."
What could I say? "That's not true." (With caveats like "if that's what he really said.")
I was briefly concerned about undermining her teachers, and I certainly don't want her going to school and challenging one, but I decided she should learn early that everyone is fallable, even her teachers. (She already knows that about me.) And given the state of public schools, it can't hurt to start her off early with the knowledge that a teacher that contradicts Mom and Dad can be wrong.
1 comment:
The funny thing is...they watch everything for confirmation. I went through a stage where I decided our family should give up caffeinated beverages and so I read all the labels and informed the children which of their faves also contained caffeine that we just weren't having any more. My grandmother all wise mentioned that maybe just maybe I had gone a bit far. After the all out effort I finally decided I could have a glass of ice tea once in a while, when we went out to eat. On the first occurrence my Nana just happened to be with us at a favorite Mexican place. When I ordered my glass of ice tea...not a sound from the peanut gallery even when the tea arrived at the table. Not a sound when I took the first sip...As I set the glass back on the table my six year old son pipes in all smiles..."Nana, we can drink tea now...it doesn't have caffeine in it any more!" A quiet smile steals across Nana's face...
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