Rose hopped on the six person teeter totter. The girls on the other side started clambering for Daddy to push them.

Daddy: What? I didn’t quite hear you?
The girls: Push us. Push us.
Daddy: What was that?
Debby to Rose: I think he’s waiting for a special word.
Rose: Please, please push us.
All the girls: Please, please push us.
Daddy: No, don’t say “please.” Pound your fist and say “Do it!”
All the girls: Do it! Do it!
Daddy: Say “Do it, jerk!”
All the girls: Do it, jerk! Do it, jerk!
Debby to Daddy: Well, when the kindergarten teacher asks me where this came from, I’ll send her to you.
Daddy: Oh, they know I’m just joking.

Different parenting styles right? Except my daughter has never heard the world “jerk” in her life let alone said it. We don’t do name calling even as a joke in our family. I know she knows not to order people around, but the whole thing didn’t feel funny to me.

I also didn’t have a whole lot of options. I wasn’t going to make a big scene, drag her off the teeter totter and lecture her about being nice. I had already gently registered my disapproval with him.

So far, there have been no repercussions.

These issues are coming up at a faster pace though. The boy next door, whom I really like, has plastic swords. It’s not so much my anti-violence thing as my anti waving sticks around at each other.

I’ve got to figure out which of my rules are absolute, which I’m willing to change, and how I’m going to enforce my rules while being respectful of other parents.