Use this thread to share those times when you dole out wisdom to your springs. I am already reallywise so any advice you give your kids will already be old news to me, but I just hope to be momentarily entertained by occasions in which you screw up your kids.
Here's mine:
The other day my kid says, "Kyle at school says that instead of fast food they should call it fat food and the people who work there are stupid bums." Obviously Kyle is repeating his parents.
I told my son, "You should never make fun of someone who is working an honest job."
There. Now you go.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
In my experience, answer just what they ask. Sometimes they dig deeper, but often times when you answer the question they ask directly without a lot of extra commentary, then they're good to go.
My first ex had the problem of wanting to answer far more than was asked.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
When this originally came up I went to one of the many internet educational channels I support with the question to see what she had to say. Here's the result (when she reads a quote off her phone, that's me she's quoting). I suspect some of the details will be disagreed with here, but the overall message of using non-judgmental non-panicked honesty seems sound.
The nugget my oldest got this week was "sometimes we do things we don't like to do," after we reviewed her spelling test results, which she hasn't been practicing for.
The nice part is that it's written to that age. They have a series of books, one for 4-7, one for 8-12, and one for >12, I think. So yeah, it was uncomfortable, but I think it went well.
