Kids are often brutally honest and don't have much of a filter. I've heard horror stories of the inappropriate things that kids say out in public. Now I'm getting to experience it first hand. And for whatever reason, Peyton has taken to calling people out on their weight.
As he and Patrick were grocery shopping the other day, they passed someone that Patrick admitted was on the larger side of size. Peyton suddenly belted out (not so quietly), "Dad! That guy is FAT!" He's pretty sure the guy heard him. This led to a discussion about the things that are not so nice to say to people. But trying to explain where this line is to a 3 year old is not exactly easy.
Then this week, Peyton's class had a Christmas party for all of the parents to attend. Another little boy in his class has a dad that I've met and chatted with on a number of occasions, and as we made small talk at the party, Peyton interrupted, "You have a big fat belly!" This led to my mumbled explanation of how we've been joking about my big growing belly as I totally avoided eye contact, apologized, and slinked away. This guy wasn't huge or anything, and he took it in stride, "Oh! That's from all the cookies I've been eating!" Thank God Peyton didn't say it to his wife that gave birth to their child a few months ago now. As I tried to control my rising blood pressure and red face, we had a discussion about how we don't say things like that to people.
So, I would like to apologize in advance to anyone out there that my son insults. We're working on the issue, but I can't promise he won't be perfectly blunt with you during your conversation with him. He's certainly not learning these bad manners at home!
