Here's an "antiquated idiom story"
from a few years back. For about 18 months I had been practicing the "Love
and Logic" principal, both in parenting and classroom discipline -- that's an approach
where you empathize with the child first, using phrases like, "I'm so sorry,"
to keep him or her engaged - and then you follow up consistently with a firm consequence. I
practiced with AJ using the phrase, “What
a bummer!" (an unpleasant experience) quite a bit to engage him.
One day, after some months, I was thinking about idioms and it
dawned on me to ask my son if he knew what "a bummer" meant. AJ looked at me and
seriously asked, "Is it a boat?" I queried, "Do any of your friends used that expression
at all?" ..."Uh, no," he replied.
It was
then I realized that I was a bit out of touch, using an antiquated idiom, and had better be careful
of the words and phrases I use if I want “Love and Logic” to work! :)
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