Saturday, March 6, 2010

Mom, look. There's a Mean Guy!

Today in the store, I was in the tools section trying to find a nice sturdy rope for nursery at church (no, I'm not using it on the kids. It's really for leading the kids from one classroom to the next without losing them down the stairs or hallway or the men's restroom.)


Anyway...As I was looking for a rope in the tools section, Jadon, who was sitting in the grocery cart said, "Mom, look. There's a mean guy." I was only half way listening to him as I was doing price comparison and so he said it again, even louder. "Mom, The mean guy is right there!" Which got my full attention. I looked over as he was saying it a third time and pointing to a man standing just two feet from the cart. What could I do? I just smiled and he smiled back and said, "I'm not mean, I just look mean." He really looked like a sweet old man, not a mean guy. Poor Jadon didn't quite understand that we don't call people mean, especially when we don't even know them. Later on the car ride home Jadon said, "He wasn't a mean guy, he was good." I wish the man could have been there then to hear him say that. 


In honor of the "mean guy" I did an etsy search for handmade "mean guys" and here are my favorite results:


This "mean guy" was handmade by Joelle McAndrew

I think the villian really looks a little nice with his cute little smile. Just like the man in the store. 






Bad Vegetables by Shaun Peterson at Shaunpaint

These are probably real mean guys. Definitely some bad vegetables. I wonder if they have nice smiles though under the scowls.

Has your child every said anything a little inappropriate in public before?

1 comment:

Lizzie said...

Love the story! Poor Jadon.. and poor "nice mean guy"!

The "Mean" items are fun too.

My son has said various funny things, that have stayed in the family's legends. A favourite was from when his daddy took him to a burger bar, for a hamburger treat. There were two identically dressed little girls across the restaurant, with their dad.
J. said "Oh, look Daddy - twins! Let's play Spot the Difference!". Hmm...