Kids really are just little sponges, aren't they?

For both the good and the bad that they are exposed to. I see that daily in the kids that I represent in CPS cases, but I've had some exposure to it myself recently with my own kids.

First of all, there's Clayton. He was playing with his little people the other day, and they were driving around in their tractor. I asked him where they were going, and he tells me "mediation". Okay, so I ask what are they going to do there? His response "see kids." Seems he really does know what I do for a living. Then the other day he was piling up all his different blankets and playing "Project Linus."

Then there's Aaron, you know, the 80 year old brain in the 6 year old body. He is one of the most gentle souls that I have ever known. The problem is that he is so gentle he tends to get bullied by his little brother. Clayton will just be beating the snot out of him, and Aaron won't hit him back. He just comes and cries to me about it. So, being a mom, I've told him many times to hit Clayton back in self defense, or to be quite honest, sometimes just as retribution. I mean let's be honest, fair is fair. So anyway, the other day they are cleaning their rooms and of course Clayton isn't helping like he should be. So Aaron comes and tells me about it. Then he comes back in a little later and tells me that Clayton is sticking his tongue out at him. Okay, quite frankly I just don't care. So I tell Aaron to stick his tongue back out at him and go back and finish cleaning. About 30 minutes later, Aaron comes back into the bedrooom where Mike and I are sitting on the bed talking, and sits down. He's quite serious. He says, "Mom, you told me I should stick my tongue out at Clayton. And sometimes you tell me to hit Clayton. Mom, those are bad things to do, and I shouldn't do them. And you shouldn't tell me to do them." I was actually speechless there for a bit. I looked at him. I looked at Mike, who also was speechless. I looked back at Aaron and said, "You're right baby, I shouldn't have told you to do things that were wrong. I'm sorry, and I'll try not to do it again." Wow. Did I mention how busted I was? I guess I'll be a bit more careful what I say from now on!