When You Want to Curl Up in a Ball and Hide Under the Couch

Ex-pat kids are known as third culture kids, or TCKs.  While being sensitive to our kids needs, we have always tried to be as enculturated as possible.  This has left our kiddos with very few Western or English speaking friends.  (Don't feel sorry for them, they have tons of Turkish friends!)  Thanks to the miracle of the internet, great books, and good old fashioned family dialogues their English is up to par.

However, every now and again we hit a TCK speed bump.  This is the story of the TCK train wreck that left us reeling this week...

Noah is a major reader.  Thanks to that and Netflix his English vocabulary is pretty good.  Often times, as the only English speakers in close proximity to Noah, Justin and I get to help him understand and, when necessary, filter the new words he is learning.

However, he is also a 14 year old boy and lacks a bit of impulse control.  This past spring he binge-watched all 9 seasons of the television show, The Office.  In one of the episodes one of the main characters was injured when he did a split.

So, as we were sitting around the living room full of English-speaking (of course!) friends Lucy decided that she wasn't getting enough attention.  So she tried to do a split.  At that moment, Noah remembered the episode and loudly announced, "I hope you didn't tear your scrotum!"

Yall, my child said the S word in a room full of people who speak English and know what that word is!  I about died!!!

Triple UGH!!

The room sort of went silent as folks awkwardly tried not to make eye contact.  My jaw dropped and when I was finally able to speak I said, "Noah, you realize that all of these people speak English, don't you?!!!"  Folks sort of chuckled and we quickly moved on to other topics.

Once we were out of our friends' home and walking to the car that night the following conversation ensued:

Justin: "Noah, you know what a scrotum is, don't you?"
Noah: "No.  What?"
Justin told him.
Noah: "Oh."  And from that moment all the way home he was silent.

I guess he learned his lesson about repeating words that he doesn't fully understand.

At least I hope so!