Later they took off their swimmies to get dry and put their pants back on before playing at other things.
I went indoors to start to get things ready for the next day and from upstairs I could hear Mini-Twinks jumping on the trampoline and chatting (a very loose term) to our retired neighbours. Imagine my horror to hear "mme Favier - regarde mon cul" (roughly translated as Mme Favier - look at my arse) - emerging from the mouth of my 5 year old, as he gaily jumped on the trampoline and flashed his backside at previously stated retired neighbour!!
Retelling the tale to some friends who believe (oh so very wrongly) that Mini-Twinks is the calmer child, it led us to a discussion about the different types of language the boys hear and are subjected to. Our friends had difficulty in believing that he simply would not have been able to say the same sentence, just as rudely in English but the reality is that, in our house "pants" is a swear word and they boys are not subjected to bad language (except when they go on roller coasters with me, or watch Jonny English). I am not sure how they are going aquire this vocabulary - my husband laughs at the fact that I worry about this!
However, here we have a prime example of the only disadvantage of a small school where 100 children with an age range of between 2.5 and 11 mix - the amount of french swear words my children know is seriously impressive - but it is the same as everyone else.
So here we have the rub - is it better that they have a reduced vocabulary but stand out, or a ruder vocabulary but are the same as their friends? As ever, for me it is all about balance. They can know these words it is just knowing when it is appropriate to use them. Clearly with our next-door neighbours it is not, but is that is more difficult to teach them what tone and vocabulary is appropriate when we don't speak french with them on a regular basis.
