losing innocence

Matthew almost made it through first grade without getting into any major trouble at school. Almost. His sweet first grade teacher had the unpleasant task of sending me an email today, explaining that Matthew had...how can I say this?.....dropped the F-bomb on the playground. Of course, he said that he heard it from another child on the playground. He certainly didn't hear it at home!

He said he didn't know that it was a 'guss' word and didn't even know what it meant. Of course not. His spelling and vocabulary words don't consist of guss words. They aren't part of any curriculum that I am aware of. So, how would he know? Someone would have to introduce it to him. In this case, it was a conversation under the slide that would take my son one step away from his innocence. And that is the saddest part.

Although I gave him the what-for, I couldn't be angry with him. He was so ashamed and confused and remorseful. I forgave him before I even heard his side of the story. It's easy to forgive someone when you love them so much. Isn't it?