The "S" Word

This all started when a teacher on Twitter used it to describe some kids she went to school with.  Having been through school myself, and teaching high school, I did not even flinch at the word.  But someone challenged her use of it.  Saying it was inappropriate. It seems that we were no longer allowed to call kids "smart".

Do I believe all kids are smart?  Do I fall for the book smarts versus street smarts?  Do I believe every kid is a different kind of smart?  I started this blog post awhile ago, ready to stand up for all the kids who liked hearing that they were smart.  I mean, how many songs are there about telling woman and girls they are beautiful, no matter what?  How is describing beauty, in its different forms, surface-level or down deep (sometimes really deep) different than saying, "Wow!  You are so smart!"

But then I stopped.  And reflected.  For a long time. (Almost a year to be exact.)  And I finally came to this conclusion:

She is the reason I tell kids they are smart.

Bella, Age 5

Because there is not a number of times I can tell this princess that she is pretty and smart that will block out the doubt that will creep into her beautiful mind when someone, one day, inevitably, calls her stupid.  Or dumb.  Or ugly.  Or weird...

I do not believe kids are bad.  I never call a kid bad.  Decisions are bad.  I believe evil cannot be created and, like darkness is simply the absence of light, bad is simply the absence of good.  But I will not stop calling kids smart.  If bad words have such a great power to change someone for the worse, I will not hesitate to believe that positive words can change kids for the better.  So I will call them smart.  Because they are. Or they will be.  Lord willing.  And teachers teaching.