The B-Word

My three year old daughter came to my bedroom, where I was relentlessly cleaning and confided in me. She told me that she wanted to tell me something, but I might get mad. She held her head down in shame for her thoughts. Finally she said, “It’s a b-word.”

What was she talking about? I said, “Ok, someone said a bad word?” She was silent. I assumed she or her siblings had discovered a new curse word. I was ready for this. I went easy with, “Butt?” She said no. I said, “Well, what was the word? You can tell Mommy.” She whispered, “Bored. I’m bored.”

I laughed inside, thinking about what I drilled into my children’s little minds. I tell them, “You must not have a brain if you are bored. Bored is a bad word in this house. There is always something to do. What does your imagination have to say about that?!”

Though, I don’t want to them to confuse boredom with quietness or stillness. Being quiet and still is ok. That’s tomorrow’s lesson. Well, for her and for me, I immediately stopped what I was doing and spent the next two hours playing hide and seek, zoom, airplane on mommy’s feet, anything I could think of. Anything but bored…