Lost innocence

Bedtime stories with Tom (now 7) last night, and I asked how his day had been at school.  "I know the 'F' word" he said. "Oh really, what is it?" I said.  "fuck" he whispered to me.  Okay.  On the surface I was cool, disinterested, matter of fact.

"That's a very rude word, and not one children should use."  I told him.  I asked him who'd told him the word, and he said James, and I asked when he'd said it, and it seems that James hadn't said it, he'd written it on the V-tech laptop they play with in after-school club. James is older than Tom, but Tom wasn't sure if he was in year 3,4 or 5.  (Tom's in year 2).

James had told Tom not to tell anyone, and Tom, like a good boy, had told me.  Back to the Folk of the Faraway Tree, and simpler, nicer, more innocent times, and then bed, with his 'Bagpuss' hot-water bottle.

School's broken up, so there is an interlude before I can bring it up, and a pause to decide whether I should bring it up, and by then I'll probably have forgotten....

So, he knows the 'F' word, he knows it's naughty, but I'm certain he doesn't know what it means.  Had to happen sometime.  He'd probably already heard it, but hadn't associated the shock factor? naughtiness? connotations? that the word carries....  so I'll leave it at that, unless he voices it loudly to test us, or needs to discuss it again.

Keep it sweet. Kat