How to gracefully handle your child's embarrassing remarks

Sep 12, 2008 9:43 AM by Melissa Leonard

Posted in Parenting / Age by Age / School Age Kids

Oh No... What Did He Just Say?!

Simon is a precocious 5-year-old who has lots on his mind and uses every opportunity to let others know what he thinks. Everyone loves Simon -- he is cute, cheerful and lovable. Yet, some feel sorry for the boy's mother, as she is often put in an uncomfortable position due to her son's innocent and completely unintentional indiscretions.

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Simon says... "My mommy told my daddy that you are boring!"

you are boring! This is one of those cases where your gut instinct says, deny, deny, deny! Yes, you may have said something to this effect, but there is no reason to put a rift in the friendship by admitting that you told your husband that this co-worker or acquaintance was a complete bore, never had anything intelligent to say and spending time with her put you to sleep.

Don't lie, but use every bit of natural ability you have to disarm the situation. Smile, laugh gracefully and explain that your child must have misunderstood a conversation you were having with your husband and laugh it off with, "Wow, kids say the silliest things!" (Remember, the less you make eye contact, the more this other person will see right through you.) Of course, I am not saying that lying is the way to go...but you get the drift -- polite white lies in a social situation usually trumps brutal honesty.

The most valuable lesson you should learn from this is to make sure little children are not in earshot of your conversations...they are like parrots and have no conception of what discretion truly means. If you haven't done so already, this may be a good time to start teaching what discretion means.