Thursday, February 12, 2009

The B Word

Yesterday, at the end of the day, I got a message from a parent who stated her child had been called the B word on the bus. Because one can never be too careful when dealing with elementary students, I called the parent back to clarify. Was that B word bitch? Or bastard? Or butt ugly? Or possibly buck toothed fool? You can never be certain and we always feel a little proud of students who actually use appropriate swears in the right context. So often, they don't.

In this particular case, a boy was calling the girls on the bus a bitch. And according to the mother, her child thought it was a first grader.

So, I added to my to-do list. Pull bus video. Not one of my favorite things to do as the bus drivers would rather not wait around for even 27 seconds (my best timed-test) for me to pull the hard drive to get the video.

And then there is the watching of the video. It makes my ADHD kick into 5th gear as I am so distracted by all the action on the screen. Usually, I have to rewind several times in an attempt to focus on what I am supposed to focus on.

This morning, before I could even get out to the bus line to get the drive, I received an email from a mother telling me about her first grade son coming home and asking her what a bitch was. She wrote on to explain that a 4th grade student who lives in the neighborhood was telling her son to call the girls a bitch. He said it would be funny. This mother was not laughing.

Ironically, neither was the mother of the girl who had called the day before.

There was one fourth grader at my school who had a horrible, no good, rotten day. Now I wonder what B word I am when he talks to his friends.

10 comments:

Kristina P. said...

What a crappy situation for everyone!

Sarah's Blogtastic Adventures said...

Ugggg. I am so glad my kids dont have to ride the bus ( we live to close to the school) but still hope they never call or are called the B word. :)

Crazy Charm said...

If someone would have called me a bitch when I was in elementary school, I probably would have said, "I know. What's your point?" Obviously, not a lot has changed.

Sunny said...

Why are all bad words taught by older kids? At that age the fourth grades are aware of the facnt that their advice's bad.

Aracely said...

Probably Big fat meanie head!

cheatymoon said...

We always say *not a joke unless everyone is laughing* - which is something I wish my mother knew.

Also, video on the bus?? We have bus aides, and you would think that would make bus issues better, but... we spend a good part of too many days being detectives about who threatened who on the bus. Ack.

Happy weekend, Beth!!

Christine Gram said...

This post made me chuckle... the chain of events was humorous. Also, I don't think the educators in Italy do anything about language on the playground. I hope my kids don't get into to much trouble when we move back to the states.

Smart Mouth Broad said...

This was priceless! I especially like your pride for when they use the curse words appropriately. Too fun! You must never suffer from writers block with so much material!

Deb said...

is it just one headache after another for you??? wait, don't bother answering... i already know.

drifter said...

its amazing how children find swearing so cool!

And, i can't believe there are so few swear words in the english language. we need to invent more, like the russians.