When To Tell People That They Are Full Of CRAP!

Alex came home the other day from summer camp really teary and upset because two of his buddies had informed him that he is not very smart so of course he was starting to get worried about whether or not he could hack it in 1st grade this fall.  I promptly told him that the next time they or anyone else tells him that he is not smart enough or good enough in any way that he should tell them that they are full of crap!

Alex started to laugh and said, “Mom, I can’t say that in school, I’ll get in trouble.”  I told him not to worry about getting in trouble to go ahead and say it and that if anyone had an issue with it they could call me.

Now I fully admit, this may not have been my best parenting moment ever, but Alex is very concerned about what other people think of him and he is really affected when people say things like that.  I wanted him to know in no uncertain terms that he does not need to accept anyone else’s assessment of him and that he is not inadequate in any way.

Fast forward 3 days and Alex hops in the car when I pick him up and he promptly tells me that so and so were “full of crap today”. (I have to tell you that while I am calm, cool and collected for the most part, I have a strong fiesty side and just LOVED hearing that he stood up for himself.)  So I asked him if he actually told them that they were full of crap and he said, “No, I just thought it.”

Mission accomplished!

It may be unorthodox, but Alex now has a response mechanism in place when people say things that are not nice to him. (and by the way, why does this have to start so EARLY, he just finished kindergarten for crying out loud!)

So weather you choose to say it out loud or just think it in your head, know that no one can diminish who you are and if they try to…  they are just full of crap! 🙂

7 Comments

  1. Melody on August 22, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    Nicole,

    I got so tickled over this. We have similar stories with our girls. lol When they worried about getting in trouble at school, we told them that we’d worry about that.

    Love this! (And enjoying other artiles on your site.)

    Melody

    • Nicole Mangina on August 23, 2010 at 5:34 am

      Thanks so much Melody!

      All the best,
      Nicole

  2. Amber on August 23, 2010 at 5:20 am

    Adorable! Love the parenting perspective you have.

  3. Maureen Kelly on November 10, 2010 at 9:54 am

    Nicole, I’m not even a parent and I loved this story…right through the last line. Good job.

  4. Steven Hedquist on February 3, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    2 thumbs up to the Ninja Mom. I loved the story so I had to tweet it. I think every parent does this and rightfully so. As a matter of fact this was a GREAT parenting moment.

    Cheers!

    Steven

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