Stinky Head

Son2 has always been an outspoken individual.

It’s an admirable trait.

Mostly.

But it was difficult to explain to him when he was small that although we valued honesty it didn’t mean he had to vocalize his every thought.

So it didn’t surprise us when we got a call from his second grade teacher.

This teacher was a young man who, in my opinion, was less than suited to his profession.

One day during story hour as he was reading a book to the kids he turned the book towards the children so they could see the illustration, but he turned it back too quickly so that Son2 didn’t see it.

Son2 complained that he didn’t get to see the picture.

The teacher told him next time pay attention.

To which Son2 called him a stinky head.

I really had a hard time not laughing as the teacher was telling me this story.

I said I’d talk to Son2 about it. And I did.

Telling him that we must show the teacher respect and not call him names.

Son2 apologized the next day and all was well.

Mostly.

(The teacher did tend to pick on him and assign him more work than the rest of the class after that, but I held my tongue.)

At the end of every school year the school held a carnival.

One of the most popular attractions was the dunking pool.

And you’ll never guess who the dunkee was that year?

Yep, stinky head.

I paid quite a bit of change buying turns for all the kids to have a chance to dunk him.

And when someone finally did, I yelled out, “That’s for you, stinky head!”

(Yeah, I know, I’m a stellar role model!)

Then I told Son2 that the teacher WAS a stinky head. That we had agreed with him all along!

But even though the teacher was one, we really shouldn’t point it out to him. It’s not polite.