stupid . . . STUpid . . . STUPID !!!

Is the word “stupid” a bad word? I think so! Is it acceptable for a children’s book from the public library to have that word in it? In my household and many others that I know, the word “stupid” is considered to be a bad word and we refrain from letting our little ones use that word. My little one does not know that word yet but I know that eventually he will pick it up from someone at school but I would, of course, strongly advise him not to use it.

I was having story time with my little ones and it so happened to be a children’s books from our local library and as I was reading it aloud, the word “stupid” came up and I was taken by surprise because I had never seen that word in a children’s literature targeted for preschoolers. That word was present few times in the book. After the first instance, I started to skim the pages before reading it aloud and would just skip over the word when it came up. I certainly value my local library and its resources but the librarians who pick the books have some responsibility to pick books with appropriate contents, don’t they?

I’m not quite sure how to handle this situation. I wonder if the author ever thought of the word “stupid” as a bad word. Sometimes, we adults use a lot of words that can be a bad word in a child’s world. Authors that write for children should have some responsibility to avoid using words that might be considered a bad word. Could the word stupid be replaced by some other word like “don’t understand”? Am I just an overprotective mother who is overreacting? Have you encountered some unexpected words in your children’s books? How did you handle it?

I’m still debating whether I should bring this up to the librarian and how to go about it. In the mean time, we are enjoying our other books without any surprise words :)

Freebie Fridays !!!

Today's freebies:

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8 - wallet-size

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Also,

Enjoy a Free Pastry * courtesy of Starbucks ONLY on July 21, 2009 till 10:30 AM or till pastries are gone :)
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Have a great weekend !!

P – O – O – P . . . Find out what it means to a toddler . . .

I’m P.O.O.P.Ed (Positively Obsessed Over Potty Education), Are you?


Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! It’s a blog about THAT! Don’t close the blog and pledge never to return to my page just yet (feel free to stop at the warning at the bottom)


This is in fact a subject that has been part of lengthy conversations and explanations not to mention numerous demonstrations and bribes in my household lately. Yes, you’ve guessed it; I am in the process of potty training my toddler. This has been a long process and finally I think I hear the gush sounds of the toilet after a little person has actually gone to the bathroom. It has come down to either bribe or keep up with the diaper duty, so naturally, I opted for bribe. And so it begins - the art of bribing a 3 year old ! How and what do you bribe with? Almost everyone suggested offering a reward. Sure, that sounds easy! I have lots of toys, stickers or books that I can offer. So, I started with them, one by one, with absolutely zero luck. I’m utterly confused as to what I can offer a child who is too smart to fall for my bribe scheme. And then, AHA! I found his sweet tooth !! Why couldn’t have my son been happy with stickers like the other kids?


Although, it has been stressful on me, my little one is enjoying being in the bathroom and playing with EVERYTHING in there - endless toilet papers, shiny handles and faucets, the ever famous bubbling soaps and yes! even the toilet brush (when his potty used to sit on the floor, he'd ask for the brush to clean his potty :) He was so excited to sit on “Mama’s potty”. Every pee was cheered on with applause so loud that you’d think someone just won an event at the Olympics. We would be hugging, high-fiving and cheering “hooray” and saying “you did it!” Now, we have moved onto the second phase :) and it has been 2 busy days of dropping everything to rush my toddler to the potty as soon as I hear the mention of wanting to go the potty (my other son has so much patience – Bless him !) Today, he actually decided to take a look into the potty before we flushed and my little toddler made funny comments that I’m a little embarrassed to write about, but this is my life and I must enjoy it no matter how embarrassing :)


WARNING: The following is completely out of my toddler’s eyes and it may disgust you :)


At first, he glances, and then he looks at me with a HUGE smile on his face because we had been working towards this for many months now and he says “Mama, I poo pooed”. Then, he looks again, and tells me “Mama, snake poop” and I died laughing ! It was the most hilarious thing I’ve heard from him and I have NO idea where he got that from (What exactly are they teaching on Sesame Street? hmmm). Then, he looks at it again and tells me with a sad voice “poo poo broken”. I couldn’t contain myself, I was literally laughing out loud – it was such an innocent remark but my husband begs to differ.


That’s the scoop on poop !! :)

Freebie Fridays !!!

Today's freebies:

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Chocolate Lovers -- don't forget to get your free chocolate bar here


Happy a good weekend !!

Freebie Fridays !!!

Today's freebies:


Reading lovers, for your weekend reading, try these Free Audio Books


Happy a good weekend !!