Monday, March 31, 2008

All This Diversity Is A Good Thing, Right?

Political correctness, my nemesis, has struck my childrens' textbooks, albeit in a mostly positive way. The readings that Jane does are constantly about some cultural group other than her own white middle American, which doesn't bother me, but it does have unintended effects. For example, today's take-home reading was about Chinese New Year. So now Jane, fascinated by learning one foreign-language phrase (which she reported to me, was "Chinese. Or Spanish. Or something like that"), has been walking around the house with a constant stream of ,"Gung hay fat choy," coming out her mouth.

A. Constant. Stream.

Over and over.

"Gung hay fat chooyyyyyy. Gung hay fat chooyyyyyy. Gung hay fat chooyyyyyy."

I love globalization. At least she is preparing herself for our Chinese overlords.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

A Brief Conversation With Jane Stenger

Jane: "Mama said..."

Me: "Knock you out! I'm gonna knock you out!"

Jane: (Blank look) "Huh?"

Me: "Never mind."