Out of the mouths of babes...

How lucky am I that I have not one but two amazing experiences to share with you this month?

Let’s begin with my daughter. For those who have been following this column, she is now 5-1/2. Petite, blonde, and obstinant — a walking me! I love her to bits. Last week I was pouring her bath and she was standing at the bathtub waiting for it to fill. While she waited, I ran downstairs to get something and quickly returned. I snuck up on her and yelled “Boo!” Well, wouldn’t you know it, she turned around, red-faced, and near tears and said: “Mommy, you scared the hell outta me!”

Now I do not live in denial — well at least not about everything — so I couldn’t help but laugh. My daughter is five but looks three — she is tiny — and to hear that come from her mouth without flinching made me smirk. I tried to ignore it and not make it ‘cute’ but I had to ask ‘where did you get that from?’ To which she replied: ‘I don’t know.’

I know what curse words I use and I also know the words I have created as substitutes for those curse words. While Fruit Loop is one of them, HELL is not. Even stupid, fat and idiot are considered ‘bad’ words in our home.

In light of our recent adventure I am now seeking out better words to express our frustration, anger and surprise but I dread the day the F-word comes into play!

That was my daughter’s adventure. Now onto a brief, but effective, story that proves to me why our job as parents is the most rewarding job of all.

Tuesday night, after my daughter fell asleep my son got out our laptop and wanted to write a story. I was reading at the time, so I didn’t mind at all that it was past his bedtime.

Over the course of the next 45 minutes he created a short story that would bring a tear to any parent’s eye. It wasn’t the story, however, that I found so heartwarming, it was the process.

He typed in one sentence, spelling phonetically as he went (I promised him we would edit it once we were finished.) I said: ‘Try to get your ideas out of your head first.’ It took him a half an hour to create the fist paragraph. He would type one sentence, run it by me and then I would ask questions. ‘What’s his name? What colour is he? Where does he live? ‘Does he have a best friend?’ I said: ‘Think like a reader. What questions would you ask? Leave no detail untold.’ And he would add all the things he has learned in school too (Thanks Mrs. V.) Using me only for guidance, he wrote a great story. It was so much fun (I am such a geek!).

As a writer, it was a wonderful moment and as a mom I cannot tell you how proud I was.

His first masterpiece! I hope it is the beginning of many, many more.

Share your adventures in parenting with our readers by e-mailing tmckee@durhamregion.com or post them below.