We use “bad choices” a lot. Kiddo also firmly believe in redemption arcs, so one of his invisible friends right now is “Bad Ahsoka” but she makes good choices so she can hang out with us and be friends. But you can’t just call her Ahsoka or Good Ahsoka. We’ve also had Good Darth Vader as an invisible friend. (We, uh, consume a lot of Star Wars if that wasn’t obvious.) But we don’t say Kiddo is bad, just that he’s making good/bad choices.
I say a lot of “that’s okay. Is a good boy. Sometimes he makes mistakes, sometimes I make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes but you are still a good boy and mistakes are how we learn!” I will also say this about Dada and then dada cringes but idk
I am okay with language about mistakes, poopsie, silly and in some context (cat shit, garbage) yucky) or other context naughty (on the third round of na na na when he’s shaking his head and still reaching for plant rocks or whatever I’m happy to in a happy tone ask if he’s being silly and or naughty, suggest coming back to mama and lots of clapping and yay if he does)
I think that this is one of the few cases where I’m strong and confident about talking over people to introduce the language I want used. And like you, we live with extended family, and I kind of accept that he will always hear the other language and I’ll just repeat my words. There are other language battles I fight harder on.
Also, when we go for walks we listen to my Marisa Peer hypnosis recordings and so he will be free of anxiety and depression and be wealth wired. His self esteem will be impeccable. He would also be improving fertility and conception and a few others, but I don’t want him getting those subliminal messages.
It’s language like “good people use their manners” type stuff. It is just weird to talk about the goodness or badness of people relative to mundane actions with a 2 yr old.
I take the “good” out of it and it’s just “this is how we do things in this house/family.” Because in another culture it’s polite to eat with ones hand, etc etc.
“a long time ago privileged people thought you were a better person if you had better manners, but now we know that’s silly. Manners are good because we make people feel good, but it’s okay if we forget or if someone knows different manners. In daddy’s culture there are really different manners than Mama’s culture and it’s hard to remember always” (I do say this shit to kids, and my nieces liked it. My kid might not once he understands
I also talk about everyone’s post colonial baggage too. I’m hoping for a three year old who can tell my aunts and uncles off using words like lens and diaspora
My friend’s son’s preschool does this too and for him it is so great! He’s very emotionally in tune and sensitive to others and it’s so cute when he tells stories about his choices and why they were green/yellow/red.
Ugh, so my daughter is obsessed with shoes and has been since she could crawl. We have to constantly move where we store our shoes because as she has become more mobile and taller she can get our shoes and put them in her mouth (someone please tell me the “everything goes in the mouth” stage ends at some point!). Anyway, today she is being cute and insisting on wearing my shoes. I posted a few cute pictures of it on facebook and one of my great aunts commented “typical female.” This just rubs me the wrong way! It is sooooo gendered and stereotyping! Men can’t like shoes? In our family, my husband is the one obsessed with shoes (and coats!) and he has twice as many pairs of shoes as I do. I don’t even know how to respond to that comment and I think I’m just going to ignore it? Because there is no way to respond in a truthful way that won’t cause hard feelings and make it a much bigger deal with my super conservative extended family.
No advice here. My thought process is that correcting family members won’t change their minds or what they say, and just make a bigger deal out of it. I plan to ignore those kinds of comments altogether with the person saying it, and be very clear with Baby that “a lot of babies like trucks (as an example), and your friend (girl name) loves playing trucks with you”.
I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do though, or if I’m just being conflict avoidant. I would correct any teachers or friends who say things like that, but with my family I feel like there’s nothing I can do.