Friday, March 20, 2009

Middle Finger

I just finished telling the kids a bed time story about Geo Trax trains and guys (Geo Trax trains and play sets by Fisher Price are Maxfield's favorite toys and I make up stories about the characters based on the DVD and by what Max tells me. Victor and Brutus are always the bad guys in all Geo Trax stories and all of the other trains and guys who make up Team Geo Trax are good guys) when I lifted my head above the top bunk to kiss Max goodnight.

"Dad?" He asked and I could tell he was concerned and had an important question.

"Yes pal."

"What does this mean? " He asked and he held up his middle finger. Yes, just his middle finger.

Lauren had told me that a few days before, Max was doing some kind of Spiderman web shooting dance. Instead of folding his middle finger into his palm, as Spiderman would do to shoot a web, Max got confused and was flipping the middle finger out while keeping all the other fingers closed. Basically he was dancing around the house flipping the bird. She explained to him that some people may misinterpret the middle finger as a bad gesture. That it was kind of like sign language for a bad word.

"It's just not a very nice thing to do Maxfield."

"Mommy said it means a bad word. What's the bad word?" He asked and he stared at his raised middle finger trying to figure out what it means.

"It is just a mean gesture. It is like teasing but in mean way."

"But what's the bad word?"

"It does not mean any specific word." I told him trying to avoid a long conversation about four letter words. "It means I don't like you very much. It is something you may direct at someone you don't like or who has been mean to you. But I don't want you to ever do that to someone."

He was quiet for a moment and I thought the conversation was going to end there. He put his middle finger down and I kissed him goodnight.

"Dad?"

"Yes pal."

"The next time you tell a Team Geo Trax story, maybe all the Team Geo Trax guys like Sir John and Bruno and Ethan can all surround Brutus and Victor and do this." Maxfield held up both his middle fingers.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well he's got a good point there. He's definitely a 'thinker', that Max.

SciFi Dad said...

Ha! Thankfully, we haven't encountered bad words or gestures around here yet.

Meegs said...

The image of that cracked me up. Thanks for a good laugh.

Bogart said...

Yup, I need me one of those.

Anonymous said...

We've always told our sone that it means "punch me in the nose", because that's very well the reaction you might get if you do it to someone!

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I meant "son"!

kimmyk said...

I laughed out loud at the visual of that. Rock on with your bad little self there Max!

I like Donna's idea too. That was funny and very true too!

I miss having little kids around. They're so much fun!

FilmFather said...

I nearly choked on my lunch when I read Max's idea for the next GeoTrax story time. Too funny...you think you talk a kid down from a sensitive situation, and he comes back with a doozy of a follow-up.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

Maybe you should tell him that only the bad guys make that particular gesture?

And Donna made me laugh - brilliant comeback!

Otter Thomas said...

Funny kid. I have no idea what the right way to handle that is and I am not looking forward to my try at it.

Ali said...

You are a great storyteller and your muses are awesome!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but that's hilarious, especially that statement at the end.

James (SeattleDad) said...

Sounds like you were doing the Big Dance around that subject. I know my day will come.

Anonymous said...

So we don't get to talk about your balls anymore?

JP said...

I just cannot get the image out of my head of Spiderman flipping everyone off while web slinging...

Charity Donovan said...

The kid has your gift!!! i cannot wait until he starts to blog! CRACK ME UP!

Anonymous said...

The geotrax guys are TOO small. My son loves his 'guys' and 'auntie', but they hide so easily :\

Jason Roth said...

Dude, that's funny.

sari said...

Yeah. I "over-explained" the middle finger to my oldest...and "somehow" my middle son knows all about it also.

Yay.

traci said...

This reminds me of the time my second daughter (who was 4 then) asked during a picnic on the floor "Mommy, what does f*** mean?" I choked on my potato salad from laughing so hard!

Paige at MommyCast.com said...

That is AWESOME.

Anonymous said...

This is like when I was starting kindergarten, my mom explained to me that I might hear big kids on the bus say bad words, and that I shouldn't repeat them. Bad words were a new concept to me, so I asked her to tell me what they were (so I'd know which ones not to repeat!) She didn't want to, but I nagged her and nagged her and finally she told me one. I kept forgetting what it was, and for days I'd ask her, "Mom, what's that shet word?"

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad the worst thing my 2-year-old has said so far is "poopy butt." I'm sure my time will come too, I just hope it's not anytime soon! -Jon

Anonymous said...

hahahaha

omg
hahahahahaha
hahahahaha
haha

love it!

btw....i still forgot my pw..hahaha
bew_not logged in
and yes...still laughing
hahahahaa

Anonymous said...

That might be the most awesome parent/ child moment I've ever read about bad words.