Adelaide's Learning At Three...

Way before I ever even got to kindergarten age I had learned a lot.  I learned swear words.  You see my parents drank, partied, fought with each other constantly.  And swore A WHOLE LOT through all of that..  

So being the VERY receptive and talented three year old child I was all of those words became MY vocabulary too.  How could they not?  I heard them constantly.  And the violence never stopped.

My babysitter Mrs. Cassity, was an older lady I loved dearly who kept children in her home during the day.  

Since swear words were a regular part of my vocabulary they came out no matter where I was but never to be mean or anything like that.  

If the wood blocks castle thing I was building [future Theatre Scene Designer in the making, you see] came crashing down I would very calmly say, "Oh f**k, I'll have to do it all again."

Or, if a crayon broke [usually the black one because of all the horses I kept drawing], I would also very calmly say, "Oh SHIT, my f**king crayon just broke."  And if it was raining outside I would calmly make the important observation, "Oh damn, it's raining."  Then quite often I would tearfully share with Mrs. Cassity, "My Mommy and Daddy had a BIG f**king fight last night breaking shit and I couldn't sleep.  Please why can't I come live here?"

Unfortunately though it turned out the other kids there were just as receptive and talented as I was for they too began repeating all the new words they heard Adelaide saying their parents never said.  So your Adelaide at three was innocently corrupting two and three year old kids for life.

Thankfully though dear Mrs. Cassity and all the parents of the other talented kids understood I was only repeating the words I had to live with and did not punish me, which really would have been very confusing for a three year old as to why I was being punished for words I heard all the time.🥴 

She would instead let my father have it when he came to pick me up!  Sometimes the fathers of the other talented kids like myself would let my father have it too.

By the time I was four though, Mrs. Cassity had very gently, lovingly helped me understand the words were not nice words a child should say even if my parents said them all the time.  No doubt that dear lady saved me from not only being thrown out of kindergarten later but perhaps even a life of crime too!😂
 

Robert Fulghum wrote his best selling book years ago about the important lessons of living we begin learning at the tender age of four or five.  He even included a list of what he thought his young self may have thought important.

This is Adelaide's "version..."😃

Be nice to others.

Make friends. 
Horses are good for you.
Play.

Let others play too so they do not feel all alone.

Have fun.
And laugh.

Draw horses.
Hold hands and care.
Don't stare at others the ways I see others stare at me because it makes me cry inside my heart.
Say thank you if someone is nice wants to be your friend.
Cuss words and mean words are not very nice even if you have to hear them lots.
Big people fighting is very very scary.

Mine always fight and I don't know why.
If you are loved by a mommy and daddy it must feel good to be loved your mommy and daddy.

I know my mommy and daddy do not love me.

I do not know why.
Animals do not care what I look like.
Walk tall even if you're not tall.
Horses are good for you.

Horses do not make you cry the way people do.
Never lose wonder.

Wonder is a good thing.
Aplomb is a good thing too.
You're never too old for crayons if you draw horses.
Draw horses.
Smile at others...you will make them happy.
Gaze at the stars above.
Plunge forth and not back.
Have courage.
Love life.
Be kind. 

Be kind to horses too..
Give hugs.

Please give Adelaide hugs too.
Dance.
Love music.
Horses are good for you.

Horses are always good for you.

Adelaide loves you.