Being able to go to my youngest grandson's Halloween party this past Friday was fun for me and my sister Diane, we brought snacks and helped the teacher with all the games and costumes the kids wore for the parade and concert however, we couldn?t help but laugh when Noah came up to us and was distressed as he told us his friends thought we were old and ugly. At first I wasn?t sure how to address his comment as he was truly mortified that two of the most important women in his life besides his siblings and parents were being called something other then what he felt about us thus I had to think fast and I must admit I was a little perplexed as these kids were elementary school Noah is 6 years old and his friends are the same. It made me wonder just how out of touch we were with the kids today and how they viewed the older generation I'm 63 and my sister Diane is 53. Thus my comment to Noah was, well dear grandson all your friends certainly liked it as we played with them and told them stories and played games therefore I think they were jealous their grams hadn't been able to take off work and come to the party so they said nasty things to make them feel better. I mean really what else could I say we didn't care however it certainly deflated Noah he thought he should defend us and I suggested he just let it go consequently any ideas as to another way I could have handled this awkward moment and have you noticed kids today seem to be tougher and more apt to bully then not and teaching our children how to be kinder today appears to be one of our greatest challenges as I see a lot of kids having to bear teasing and taunting which can be so devastating with the memories carved into their brains for many years to come moments endured by the bully. Thus if you have any ideas of what I might say to my grandson let us know because all the way home Diane and I were shocked and disappointed in what came out of Noah's classmates mouths and we didn't tell the teacher because we didn't feel making an issue of this would help anyone including Noah and the many nice children we had fun with this past Halloween.

My first post--a true story and I"ll be back. Dorothy from grammology www.grammology.com