A LITERAL EXPLICATIVE

Date: Spring 2009

Gender: 4 1/2-year-old little guy; he had some behavior concerns that we were just getting on top of.

Locale: Red Room

Alias: M

M is a little guy we had in our program last year.  His behavior was, at times, very difficult to manage (non-compliance with adult requests topping our frustration list).  He always seemed to have his own agenda and as a result, was a very independent little guy.

The classrooms in our school are set up, or divided, into different "areas."  During the "Work Time" piece of our daily routine, the children are able to "work" in the different areas within the classroom.  For example, we have an Art Area, House Area, Big Toys, Small Toys, Block Area, etc., etc.

One afternoon, all of the kids were working away as one of the teachers glanced up from working with a child in the Art Area.  She noticed that M was standing in the House Area, with his back turned toward the large mirror on the wall.  He had pulled his pants and underwear down far enough to expose his little bum cheeks.  M pulled his pants and underwear out far enough from his little rear so that he could see down inside of them.  With a twisted frown on his face, he suddenly yelled, "OH, THAT DAMN DIARRHEA!"  Without saying another word, he let go of his pants and ran as fast as he could (with his pants still hanging between his legs) through the classroom, across the hall, and into the bathroom . . . slamming the stall door behind him so loud that the vibrations echoed back into the classroom.

M took care of his business, washed his hands and returned to the classroom.  A few minutes later, a teacher spied him, once again, standing in front of the mirror, in the same stance, bare bum cheeks turned to the mirror, pants dropped and pulled out far enough for him to glare down into his underwear.  Only one word escaped his mouth this time:  "SHIT!"  I don't know if he realized the explicative was, in fact, a literal translation of his current situation . . . but his point was clearly made to the rest of us.     

At this point, one of the teachers intervened, found M's extra set of spare clothing (we always keep an extra set for each child--in case of circumstances such as this), and sent him into the restroom to take care of "business" again, and to change into fresh clothing as well.

I think one of the more shocking things to hear escape a child's mouth is an explicative.  Why we adults tend to find humor in it is beyond me.  Regardless, it's DANG funny at times.  Our kids are truly like little sponges; they soak up anything and everything from their environments . . . given time and the appropriate circumstances, we often learn that they've soaked up some things we'd rather they hadn't.  LOL!