Our oldest son, Jason, was eight, his brother, Aaron, three. One day my wife, who worked for a government agency, had a holiday that the rest of us didn’t have. I came home from work to find Jason confined to his room and my wife waiting for me with instructions to “talk to your son.”
Seems she’d promised Aaron they would go to the mall to spend his birthday money as soon as her morning housework was done. Being only three, he pestered her every 30 seconds, until she finally told him, “Just go watch TV for a few more minutes, then I’ll be done.”
“There’s nothing on,” he replied.
“Watch Blinky,” she suggested (Blinky’s Fun Club was a popular kid’s show on a Denver TV station at the time.
“Blinky sucks!” the child stated.
My wife was stunned to hear what she considered such salty language coming from her darling babe. “Where did you hear that?” she demanded.
“That’s what Jason says.”
Fast forward to that afternoon. Jason walked through the door and was accosted by his mother. “Do you know what your little brother said this morning?”
Of course, the lad had no idea what was coming. “Uh …”
“He said you told him Blinky sucks!”
The boy looked at her with complete bewilderment and replied, “Mom, have you ever *watched * that show?”
Fortunately, he did not pursue a career as a media critic.