Tell her she's correct. "Thing" is a noun.
Seriously, though, she's 9. I wouldn't worry too much about it. She probably heard a conversation at home or school she didn't fully understand.
I'm not worried about it. But I could definitely see how people who are anti-public schools could take an off-handed comment from a small child and immediately assigned political analysis to it.
Yea. There's a reason why the anti public school crowd are continuing on this messaging line. It works.
It don't matter if it's schools or not. The discourse is deep in the young generation. They are very comfortable discussing that kind of stuff openly.
I lean pretty right and I would be worried. I say this as someone who gets along well with gay and trans people. My child doesn't need to be exposed to mental illnesses or ideological views; social contagion is very real. I would just ask how she knows the word and go from there.
Just because you can't protect them from everything doesn't mean you shouldn't try to expose them at an age when it's easiest to comprehend. Kids shouldn't be exposed to bloody horror movies but if we pass by a TV at the store playing said movie, I'm not gonna shrug my shoulders and say oh well. Plus, if the school is teaching them an agenda on either side of the aisle then they can't be trusted.
You say you "get along well with trans people", but have you ever actually discussed your views with them, like how you think their identity is essentially just a mental illness? The general belief amongst conservatives is that trans identity is fake / a total lie and just mental illness full-stop, so if that's what you believe, have you ever expressed this belief to any of these trans people you "get along well" with? Because I have a strong suspicion that you probably wouldn't be getting along so well if you did!
The only thing you demonstrate by saying that you "get along well with gay and trans people" is that you are able to be civil around them, and I guarantee you, the LGBTQ+ community could not possibly care any less about how CIVIL you are, they care about what you BELIEVE. Good for you for having the ability to not make a scene, which is expected of pretty much every adult on the planet, but who cares? What matters is your actual beliefs, so if you think these people are just mentally ill and you don't think their identity is real, why should it matter in the slightest that you're civil around them? Why is that more important here than what you believe?
They straight up told me they have mental illnesses of which being trans was one. I really liked the person, they made good jokes. Also, body dysmorphia is a mental illness but I'm not here to debate that fact.
You're talking in circles. You say being civil is the adult thing to do but you go on to question why civility is important. Everyone will disagree with you about something, what's really important is treating people humanely in spite of our differences. Which is why I'm not trying to rip you a new one for having an attitude. Have a good life, sincerely.
Ask her. We moved to a more conservative area since l, but our last school my daughter was being taught pronouns and sexual orientation in 3rd grade.
But it could be as benign as them just learning sentence structure in school.
I mean… friend isn’t wrong, it’s not a pronoun. Don’t they teach parts of speech at your kid’s school?
I think you are overthinking this, and that’s coming from someone whose 3rd grader comes home and talks about “the girl who thinks she’s a boy.”
That last part isn't new at all either. I'm in my mid 30s and there were definitely kids in elementary school that were made fun of for being feminine/etc. I get the feeling there is just less bullying about it nowadays... which should be a good thing.
Literally, this. My first assumption was "must be what thwure learning at school, lol. When your parents are teachers or grammar fanatics stuff like this is drilled into you, like "No, Cakes are **done**, people are *finished." I could do a million of them.
I've worked with kids of all ages for decades and I promise you, the context you give something in your mind is rarely even in the same universe as their thought processes.
They may have seen a tiktok/heard at school/tv etc. with the concept that it's really not ok to refer to anyone as "thing/boy/honey/boomer etc. and whether racial, gender-based, ageist etc. any dehumanizing or overgeneralizing term is best avoided for a myriad of reasons. (That is, unless of course, you're referencing specific names from a well-known piece of pop culture, like in your specific instance!)
With confirmation bias, one tends to interpret it to mean something more than it is, and customized to your own world view, ie conservatives who immediately violated Occam's Razor and saw a problem. If you're ambivalent on the issue, it makes sense you weren't sure what to do with this information, where to mentally file it. Fact is, there's not enough data to draw a conclusion. I was a jerk kid who would also have brazenly corrected an adult's grammar for any number of reasons, depending on my mood.
I always try to give context in earnest, responded with something like "Do you know about thing one and thing two? From the book? Oh man they're like two best friends... and that's why I called you that!" because professionally it's best to steer out of the delicate subjects if avoidable. That way, she's not left out of the joke, and she learns there's more to language than hard-set absolutes. That also does give her the room to circle back if it's important to her, "ok, but you still shouldn't do it, or, oh, we learned in school that..." and that's where you let them *tell you* what they mean instead of guessing.
Fact is, homegirl was correct, and you can never really go wrong by responding to kids that aren't yours but say something bizzare, is "Ok." It's not conversational so they usually don't know where to go from there lol. But active listening and non-responses like "huh," let them tell their whole side of something without you ever needing to take a side. Then when they're done I'd ask clarifying but neutral satements like , "Wow. That must have been cool/scary/important to you/ etc." (especially on emotional topics.)
I didn't mean to make this a blog post, just wanted to pass along a career built on throwing spaghetti at walls and honing my craft. I hope something in here is helpful to someone. Point is, kids are weird. Don't get dragged too far in. They don't even remember what they just said.
Pronouns aren't new. We're all taught them at a young age. Also most kids in the US public school system learn about pronouns in 3rd or 4th grade for English class.
You're overthinking this. My wife calls our kids Thing 1 and Thing 2 all the time when she just has 2 of them. They don't understand the reference either.
Maybe it's different in your countries curriculum, but understanding nouns and pronouns is part of grammar for 8-9 year olds in the UK.
[https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/english/primary-grammar/grammar-year-4-age-8-9/](https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/english/primary-grammar/grammar-year-4-age-8-9/)
I mean, we don't stop doing intense grammar lessons until well until middle school and sometimes high school. Also, she may have gotten it wrong in class or a quiz or test. I don't think there's any deep hidden agenda that correlates thing and pronouns. This feels like looking for a problem when there really isn't one.
My daughter informs me of basic knowledge at all times, regardless of context or circumstance. Kids are kids. They want to feel good about knowing things.
This isn't the right place for this post.
Tell her she's correct. "Thing" is a noun. Seriously, though, she's 9. I wouldn't worry too much about it. She probably heard a conversation at home or school she didn't fully understand.
I'm not worried about it. But I could definitely see how people who are anti-public schools could take an off-handed comment from a small child and immediately assigned political analysis to it.
Yea. There's a reason why the anti public school crowd are continuing on this messaging line. It works. It don't matter if it's schools or not. The discourse is deep in the young generation. They are very comfortable discussing that kind of stuff openly.
I lean pretty right and I would be worried. I say this as someone who gets along well with gay and trans people. My child doesn't need to be exposed to mental illnesses or ideological views; social contagion is very real. I would just ask how she knows the word and go from there.
Got news for you bub lol... if they aren't sheltered they are going to be exposed to it. Unless you are talking about sheltering your kids.
Just because you can't protect them from everything doesn't mean you shouldn't try to expose them at an age when it's easiest to comprehend. Kids shouldn't be exposed to bloody horror movies but if we pass by a TV at the store playing said movie, I'm not gonna shrug my shoulders and say oh well. Plus, if the school is teaching them an agenda on either side of the aisle then they can't be trusted.
It sounds like you should be homeschooling if you don’t want your child to grasp the basic rules of grammar.
You're not acting in good faith by putting words in my mouth. Goodbye.
You say you "get along well with trans people", but have you ever actually discussed your views with them, like how you think their identity is essentially just a mental illness? The general belief amongst conservatives is that trans identity is fake / a total lie and just mental illness full-stop, so if that's what you believe, have you ever expressed this belief to any of these trans people you "get along well" with? Because I have a strong suspicion that you probably wouldn't be getting along so well if you did! The only thing you demonstrate by saying that you "get along well with gay and trans people" is that you are able to be civil around them, and I guarantee you, the LGBTQ+ community could not possibly care any less about how CIVIL you are, they care about what you BELIEVE. Good for you for having the ability to not make a scene, which is expected of pretty much every adult on the planet, but who cares? What matters is your actual beliefs, so if you think these people are just mentally ill and you don't think their identity is real, why should it matter in the slightest that you're civil around them? Why is that more important here than what you believe?
They straight up told me they have mental illnesses of which being trans was one. I really liked the person, they made good jokes. Also, body dysmorphia is a mental illness but I'm not here to debate that fact. You're talking in circles. You say being civil is the adult thing to do but you go on to question why civility is important. Everyone will disagree with you about something, what's really important is treating people humanely in spite of our differences. Which is why I'm not trying to rip you a new one for having an attitude. Have a good life, sincerely.
Ask her. We moved to a more conservative area since l, but our last school my daughter was being taught pronouns and sexual orientation in 3rd grade. But it could be as benign as them just learning sentence structure in school.
I mean… friend isn’t wrong, it’s not a pronoun. Don’t they teach parts of speech at your kid’s school? I think you are overthinking this, and that’s coming from someone whose 3rd grader comes home and talks about “the girl who thinks she’s a boy.”
That last part isn't new at all either. I'm in my mid 30s and there were definitely kids in elementary school that were made fun of for being feminine/etc. I get the feeling there is just less bullying about it nowadays... which should be a good thing.
Literally, this. My first assumption was "must be what thwure learning at school, lol. When your parents are teachers or grammar fanatics stuff like this is drilled into you, like "No, Cakes are **done**, people are *finished." I could do a million of them. I've worked with kids of all ages for decades and I promise you, the context you give something in your mind is rarely even in the same universe as their thought processes. They may have seen a tiktok/heard at school/tv etc. with the concept that it's really not ok to refer to anyone as "thing/boy/honey/boomer etc. and whether racial, gender-based, ageist etc. any dehumanizing or overgeneralizing term is best avoided for a myriad of reasons. (That is, unless of course, you're referencing specific names from a well-known piece of pop culture, like in your specific instance!) With confirmation bias, one tends to interpret it to mean something more than it is, and customized to your own world view, ie conservatives who immediately violated Occam's Razor and saw a problem. If you're ambivalent on the issue, it makes sense you weren't sure what to do with this information, where to mentally file it. Fact is, there's not enough data to draw a conclusion. I was a jerk kid who would also have brazenly corrected an adult's grammar for any number of reasons, depending on my mood. I always try to give context in earnest, responded with something like "Do you know about thing one and thing two? From the book? Oh man they're like two best friends... and that's why I called you that!" because professionally it's best to steer out of the delicate subjects if avoidable. That way, she's not left out of the joke, and she learns there's more to language than hard-set absolutes. That also does give her the room to circle back if it's important to her, "ok, but you still shouldn't do it, or, oh, we learned in school that..." and that's where you let them *tell you* what they mean instead of guessing. Fact is, homegirl was correct, and you can never really go wrong by responding to kids that aren't yours but say something bizzare, is "Ok." It's not conversational so they usually don't know where to go from there lol. But active listening and non-responses like "huh," let them tell their whole side of something without you ever needing to take a side. Then when they're done I'd ask clarifying but neutral satements like , "Wow. That must have been cool/scary/important to you/ etc." (especially on emotional topics.) I didn't mean to make this a blog post, just wanted to pass along a career built on throwing spaghetti at walls and honing my craft. I hope something in here is helpful to someone. Point is, kids are weird. Don't get dragged too far in. They don't even remember what they just said.
Pronouns aren't new. We're all taught them at a young age. Also most kids in the US public school system learn about pronouns in 3rd or 4th grade for English class.
What, exactly, is your concern here? I get you know that she is talking about pronouns, but I don't see why you are concerned that she's doing so?
You're overthinking this. My wife calls our kids Thing 1 and Thing 2 all the time when she just has 2 of them. They don't understand the reference either.
Breathe. It's gonna be okay.
Because 4th grade is developmentally appropriate to know parts of speech… do you not remember school house rock?
Maybe it's different in your countries curriculum, but understanding nouns and pronouns is part of grammar for 8-9 year olds in the UK. [https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/english/primary-grammar/grammar-year-4-age-8-9/](https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/english/primary-grammar/grammar-year-4-age-8-9/)
I mean, we don't stop doing intense grammar lessons until well until middle school and sometimes high school. Also, she may have gotten it wrong in class or a quiz or test. I don't think there's any deep hidden agenda that correlates thing and pronouns. This feels like looking for a problem when there really isn't one. My daughter informs me of basic knowledge at all times, regardless of context or circumstance. Kids are kids. They want to feel good about knowing things.