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Not using common words can backfire


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I've never used the word "chores" for the tasks that I have the kids do. In the devotion time at Upward practice they were discussing chores, and ds proceeded to announce that he doesn't have any. I'm sure all the other kids were jealous!

 

They had been specifically discussing doing dishes, which ds does not do. I think he thought chores only involved dishes. Helping with dishes is dd's "chore".

 

Off to make a chore chart with the word chores in big letters at the top!

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:lol:

 

Our normally developing infants/toddlers participated in periodic developmental assessments, because our county wanted to collect stats. At age 2, DD had no idea what a "teddy" was. The therapist started to get worried until I suggested that she say bear instead of teddy.

 

Teddy bear I'm familiar with, but now people call 'em teddies? Weird. As far as I'm concerned, teddies are lingerie. :D

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Do you really need to enlighten him just yet? I could live with my children having the impression they didn't have chores if they were still helping out around the house. ;)

 

I didn't think of that! The damage is already done. I told him last night that chores are anything you mom or dad ask you to do around the house. We went through a list of things I ask him to do (clean his room, gather the trash baskets, help with laundry, run the Swivel Sweeper, etc.).

 

I've always just asked the kids when I want them to do something. I don't ask them to do the same things every day, either.

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Guest submarines
I didn't think of that! The damage is already done. I told him last night that chores are anything you mom or dad ask you to do around the house. We went through a list of things I ask him to do (clean his room, gather the trash baskets, help with laundry, run the Swivel Sweeper, etc.).

 

I've always just asked the kids when I want them to do something. I don't ask them to do the same things every day, either.

 

This is what I do as well--I ask for help around the house, whenever I need it. They join me happily. They don't know they are doing chores! :D

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My kids have never liked the word "chores". They thought it was too harsh sounding. We use "to-do's, "home/family blessings", or our personal favorite "tidy-time". (They are now 13 and 15 and we still say "tidy time".)

 

They also balked at me using a red pen to grade ANYTHING. I have a pile of purple, green, blue, and orange pens - but no red.

 

I have to say that I agree with them on this. I do not call what I do around the house all day long "chores". Uuuggg. The word fills me with dread and ranks right up there with with words such as dentist, mammogram, and diaper blowout.:tongue_smilie:

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:lol:

 

Our normally developing infants/toddlers participated in periodic developmental assessments, because our county wanted to collect stats. At age 2, DD had no idea what a "teddy" was. The therapist started to get worried until I suggested that she say bear instead of teddy.

 

Teddy bear I'm familiar with, but now people call 'em teddies? Weird. As far as I'm concerned, teddies are lingerie. :D

 

My DD at 2yo also didn't recognize "Teddy" (which is my father's nickname, not a stuffed animal). She MAY have recognized "bear", but not as a comfort object, since she didn't happen to have any bear stuffed animals. I once got hollered at by some random lady chatting her up in a restaurant over this. Apparently it is cruel for a child to not have a TEDDY BEAR, even if she has dozens of other stuffed animals of every description. :glare:

 

BTW, Giraffe ("raffy") or Eyore ("e-row") would have been completely familiar to her by 2. Maybe even by 1.

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My dc thought they didn't do chores, either. I just didn't use that term, but they had plenty of responsibility around the house that would fall into that category.

 

My ds once told people that he didn't do any Language Arts school work, to their horror. I was surprised because we certainly did. But then he told them he did Spelling, Reading, Literature, Composition and Grammar. I guess I just didn't use the term Language Arts to refer to those things.

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:lol:

 

Our normally developing infants/toddlers participated in periodic developmental assessments, because our county wanted to collect stats. At age 2, DD had no idea what a "teddy" was. The therapist started to get worried until I suggested that she say bear instead of teddy.

 

Teddy bear I'm familiar with, but now people call 'em teddies? Weird. As far as I'm concerned, teddies are lingerie. :D

 

My kids never loved their teddy bears. They may not have had teddy bears. For one it was a stuffed cat. For the next it was a stuffed dog. For the third it was fleece blanket.

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My DD answered the "do you help around the house" question at one of her well child visits with "I stay out of mommy's way when she's working, and I let Daddy sleep until 12:00 on Saturday"! It wasn't until the pediatrician gave her an example like walking the dog or taking out the trash that she gave a long list of things she does. I don't use "chores" either.

 

 

She also once told a group of girls at cheer practice that she didn't have to take ANY tests. Which, I guess, is true. I don't call them tests. I call them "reviews".

 

Her "teddy" is green, scaly, and has fangs, and has been since she latched on to a folkmanis sea serpent from my puppet bin when she was about 9 months old and christened him "My Daggy!" Draggy is still a major part of our family, and if folkmanis ever wants testimonies on durability, I'll happily give them one.

Edited by dmmetler
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I remember when older dd took the ITBS in 1st grade. As a homeschooler, she had no clue what the word "tardy" meant, so she got that one wrong. After all, how can you be counted "tardy" in homeschool?

 

I was filling out an application for middle dd, and there was a whole section about her attendance in sschool. I wrote "Homeschool: N/A" across it, but we were really tempted to be funny and write in "0" for all of the absence and tardy questions and write "since conception" for how long she has attended this school.

 

On my dd's first standardized test, she circled all of the bubbles. Yep, typical homeschool kiddo. :lol:

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