Haiku about Words and Kids

 My oldest and I had a nice conversation about kids picking up their parents' vocabulary. I told him about some of the words I remember hearing pretty exclusively at our house growing up. When my dad didn't like what a person did, he called that person a "nincompoop." I don't remember anyone else ever using that word. I never used it, but I knew what it meant. Then there were the words we used that were old-fashioned words. We rarely used the word "refrigerator." It was always the "icebox." That's from my dad. He used that word; we used that word. Friends would ask me, "Why do you call it an icebox?"  I probably answered in a shrug and in my head said, "That's what it's called, you nincompoop." And then there are the words we thought were English, but were really Spanish. My mom used her Spanish words for items in the house. One of them was sabana. I think it wasn't until middle school when I realized it was a Spanish word and not just another English word for sheet. That's not bad, considering that when my sister was in her 20's, she asked a friend to hand her the sarten, and he had no idea what she was refering to. It wasn't until then that she realized that sarten is Spanish for frying pan., not a specific type of frying pan. It's funny, my oldest and I agreed, how my family vocabulary worked. 

I was thinking this morning about our influence on our children's way of speaking. They came to us older, already with their own way of talking, their own special words. Almost three years now, and I can hear ourselves in their speech and their choice of words.  "I'm really trying to make it to the top of this," the middle one says while playing a computer game, "but, so far, no cigar." I had to smile to myself. How many 14-year-olds would use that phrase today? Not many, I imagine. "but, no cigar" is a phrase heard in our house. I use it. He learned it from me. It's fun hearing our kids use "our words." The other day, I had to giggle to myself when the oldest asks me, "Dawn, do you mind if I ask [brother] to accompany me to the store?" I said of course not. I overhear him asking his brother, "When you're done here, would you like to accompany me to the store?" And the answer was not a simple "yeah." It was "Why, yes, I would." Such little gentlemen. Again, "accompany me" is one phrase my husband and I use. Even our youngest, would say something that we heard come out of our mouths. When she was six and  making a choice, she would say something like "I like both, but today I think I prefer this one." Our way of speaking--mine and my husband's. Hearing our words coming out of our kids' mouths makes us smile, giggle and sometimes we roll our eyes in amusement. I know, I know, it's fun now, but one day our words may come back to haunt us.

So, today my haiku is an invitation to our children to soak up our vocabulary.

Our words and phrases

Are yours to take, keep and share

(But, not the bad ones).