But I meant to say "bastard," she said.
I had earlier explained to her that the word bastard referred to kids without fathers around and that it wasn't appropriate for school. Tawanda has a knack for using colorful language when speaking about other children, so we frequently have to clarify her expressions. It takes the power out of her words.
It just came out.
Tawanda was also pulling up her skirt to show her bloomers to the entire class. This was while we were discussing the difference between privacy and secrecy.
Why would I need to discuss the difference between privacy and secrecy you ask? Well, two little girls in my class bullied another little girl all week. Hope and Olivia told Geneva that if she would bring them hot Cheetos that they would not disclose to the rest of the class that she had lice.
What the fuck?
They are seven years old. What kind of mafioso stunt is that? Geneva lives at the downtown shelter and doesn't have two sticks to rub together, much less materialize hot Cheetos. Olivia was kind enough to give Geneva a blackmail extension of sorts. Hope was a little less forgiving and had already let the cat out of the bag.
I realized that my kids had learned this shit from somewhere. Somebody had said to them, if you won't tell then I'll give you this. Or you better not tell or I'm gonna do something bad to you. And a light went off in my head that my kids have secrets that they don't want people to know and that they don't know how to determine when it's a harmless secret and when it's a hurting secret. So... that's how we got to the discussion on privacy vs. secrecy.
And that is when Tawanda pulled up her skirt. And that is when she said fuck in front of all of my second graders. And that is when Jacob put his hands on his ears and said, "Everything is okay. Everything is alright."
I looked at poor little Jacob. Sit down. Everything is okay. Everything is alright. Say it with me guys. Jacob that is a good coping skill. Right on man. Way to go! Everything is okay. Everything is alright. It's just a word. And words are only as powerful as we let them be.
And one of the kids said "Come on let's help Tawanda." And they all sat down and listened. So, we finished our lesson on the difference between secrecy and privacy. And I hope that the message got to the kid that needed it. I don't know who it was, but I know it need to be said.
Tawanda got in trouble. Big time. But I still think it's just a word.
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