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Original poster

Friendly names to call kids who make a stupid mistake

390 replies

noblegiraffe · 25/05/2016 23:24

You know, the ones you have a good relationship with, not talking about berating some sensitive y7.

What, in mock exasperation, would you call a pupil who had e.g got a fiendishly difficult differential equation question wrong and you'd just spotted it was because they'd written 1x1=2?

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 27/05/2016 10:56

(do you actually read posts you idiot. Oh aren't I nice name calling did you enjoy being called an idiot you fool, aren't you a dick head for not reading my posts this is a lovely way to speak to some one isn't it, oh it's all done in jest you know banter, cos it's just humour)

Clearly you have failed to grasp the difference between "silly sausage" etc and any of the examples you've used. Which says a lot about you.

Ellle · 27/05/2016 10:59

I have said over and over and over and over again it works for some children I actually said in previous post SOME IN BIG CAPITAL LETTERS (do you actually read posts you idiot. Oh aren't I nice name calling did you enjoy being called an idiot you fool, aren't you a dick head for not reading my posts this is a lovely way to speak to some one isn't it, oh it's all done in jest you know banter, cos it's just humour)

Well, I'm not sure if the second paragraph of your post was directed to me, but in case it was, if you also actually read my posts, I never said it was correct to call someone "idiot" "fool" "dick head". Those words for me are insults, and I would never use them with my own children, other children, or other adults for that matter. Those words are not the same as "silly sausage" and "banana". Maybe it's just to do with what people consider to be humour. After all, we all have a different sense of humour.

teacherwith2kids · 27/05/2016 10:59

"would you allow the kids to call you a name when you make a mistake, too? if so what would you allow the class to shout at you?"

Of course. The same 'quack quack oops' or 'd'oh' sounds and motions are done by me to myself when modelling, to the children to me when they spot something silly that I've done, and [occasionally, when it really is a silly mistake that just needs sorting, rather than a mistake that we can all learn from], quietly from me to a child I'm talking to 1:1 [not in front of the whole class in whole class teaching, but when reviewing their individual work]. In fact I and the children are MUCH more public and vocal about my mistakes than I am about theirs, because I want them to learn from my model that mistakes are good things that we can learn from, and even silly mistakes are things that everyone makes from time to time, whoever we are.

Balletgirlmum · 27/05/2016 11:00

Numpty.

teacherwith2kids · 27/05/2016 11:09

(It is probably worth pointing out that there have been in the past a series of posts calling teachers who e.g. make a spelling mistake in a letter home 'unprofessional' or 'not fit for the job'. This thread has quite an interesting take on the reverse dynamic - it is OK to question a teacher's ability to do their job on the basis of a silly mistake, but absolutely unacceptable for a teacher to ever call a child a 'banana' or a 'silly sausage' in private jest.

That said, as I have said before, I personally feel more comfortable focusing the jest on the thing done - a 'silly banana do' as i would say to my own children - than on the person 'you silly banana'. Again, as I have said before, when a 9 year old is telling you about a comedy incident involving a playground game / their lunchtime yoghurt, to explain why they are currently clad in a PE kit 3 sizes too big, I have occasionally slipped into parent mode and called them a banana.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 27/05/2016 11:14

So Ellie you've just proved my point sorry I'm absolutely laughing out loud you didn't like being called those names did you even though I said oh just in jest just banter all the fun of the site,

Yet yet oh we can call kids silly nana bully goat daft because oh it's all in jest it's all banter it's allium the spirt of the class room.
Daft silly nana they all in the child's mind mean your an idiot your stupid.

I find it ironic that the very people going oh no wonder kids aren't resilient banters good for them it's ok to name call are the very ones that don't like being name called themselves. Why's it ok to do to children but not adults?!

It doesn't matter if the word is perceived as child friendly it's what the context is. If you don't like being called a fool and idiot or anything else then why should ANY CHILD like being called silly sausage nanna or anything else.

For the fifty billionth time name calling is name calling is name calling is name calling. It doesn't matter what words you use

SoupDragon · 27/05/2016 11:18

For the fifty billionth time name calling is name calling is name calling is name calling. It doesn't matter what words you use

For the fifty billionth time, no it isn't. You are wrong.

EquinoxBloom · 27/05/2016 11:19

Given that I think the are TWO (tenacious) posters on this thread who can't see the difference between calling a struggling child names and having a joke with a child who has made a silly mistake, let's just say we know who those parents are and the rest of us go and have a lovely cup of tea?

SoupDragon · 27/05/2016 11:20

Why's it ok to do to children but not adults?!

Please point out the posts on this thread where anyone has suggested using any of the words and phrases you used? Other than the posters who were clearly joking.

If you can't tell the difference between numpty and dickhead then there really is no hope.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 27/05/2016 11:24

Ok let's take the silly sausage insistent what was it.

Child I can't do this
Teacher look we did this yesterday with different numbers look
Child oh so the answers this?
Teacher silly sausage

Ok that's acceptable you all say yes.

Employee excuse me line manager I haven't seen this form before what do I do with it?!
Line manager oh it's new version of the form you've been processing for annual leave.
Employee oh so I check the calendar, and enter the dates on to the system
Line manager see you did know what to do with it fool.

If that was a thread on adult version was a thread on here, what would you all say about the line manager?! Would you be telling the person to go to HR or to the line managers manager. Yes?!

Oh but it's ok to tell kids there silly sausages

stealthsquiggle · 27/05/2016 11:25

Sigh. So the conclusion of 331 posts is that no one teaching approach works for all children. Well there's a revelation which will come as news to teachers - not. Hmm

For all the teachers on here who use this approach with the DC for whom it works - please don't stop. My very clever, perfectionist, DS would have beaten himself to shreds without the teachers who have gently teased and cajoled him into realising that silly mistakes are just that, and not the end of the world. He has been called a banana, doofus, numpty and plenty of other things in the process. We just got the (fantastic) detailed feedback from his 13+ scholarship exams and he can't wait to show his teachers as he sees it (rightly) as a joint success between him and the staff.

heyhulahoop · 27/05/2016 11:26

Bozo?

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 27/05/2016 11:26

Soup dragon it doesn't matter what the words are it's what they mean they are ALL INACCEPTABLE THEY ARE ALL NAME CALLING

ok friendly names to call any one that makes a slip or mistake?! That was the question yes.

Answer none absolutely none their are no friendly names they all mean stupid idiot fool, therefore they are unacceptable and name calling

PurpleDaisies · 27/05/2016 11:27

Writing something in capitals does not make it true naught.

PurpleDaisies · 27/05/2016 11:28

You're coming across as a little unhinged now.

PurpleDaisies · 27/05/2016 11:31

stealth I was exactly the same as your son-I'd hear "you've done really well and got 99%" as "you have failed to get 100% and let yourself and everyone down." That's why I use humour with mistakes-in life you have to be able up try, get things wrong and have another go without it being a crushing disaster.

EquinoxBloom · 27/05/2016 11:32

Does banana mean stupid, idiot, fool?

So I'll be given the DC stupid, idiot, fools after lunch?

I can see it catching on actually....

teacherwith2kids · 27/05/2016 11:33

Naught, but your two examples aren't the same - one says silly sausage, the other says fool.

if the line manager called the [otherwise always extremely competent, as agreed both by the worker and the line manager] worker a silly sausage, it would be fine.

Equally in your first example, as long as the whole point of the exchange is that the child knows that the teacher knows full well that he would usually know exactly what the answer is, and the child has just made a silly mistake, and the teacher and child know each other well, it would be fine - with some children, some of the time, and the teacher will know exactly who it would be fine with.

teacherwith2kids · 27/05/2016 11:34

Equinox, is banana fool (the pudding) 'idiot fool fool' now? My children will like that a LOT :-)

CloneMeNow · 27/05/2016 11:35

You can surely install a growth mindset in kids without name-calling though?

Being positive about mistakes isn't synonymous with saying 'silly sausage' or similar? My DS is prone to making silly mistakes in maths - he is very bright and he rushes through work in an attempt to be first to finish, which means he makes basic errors in stuff he knows - he has to learn (a) that it's not the end of the world and (b) to be more careful about checking the basic steps and that there's no reward in rushing.

I think he can learn that in a friendly, fun environment without being called a numpty or a sausage or anything else.

teacherwith2kids · 27/05/2016 11:36

naught, it isn't 'anyone who makes a silly mistake' - it is an able child who does the really hard things absolutely right and then makes a silly mistake .. and who will respond better to humour than to a po-faced approach that will make him / her believe that the mistake is serious...

derxa · 27/05/2016 11:37

Child I can't do this
Teacher look we did this yesterday with different numbers look
Child oh so the answers this?
Teacher silly sausage

Child- I can't do this
Teacher - Let's look back at what we did yesterday. (Demonstrates)
Child - (Tries calculation) Oh yes I remember now
Teacher - You're perfectly capable. You're panicking you silly sausage!

teacherwith2kids · 27/05/2016 11:39

Clone, as I say, I would in almost all cases apply the 'quack quack oops' or 'd'oh' to the mistake - but equally, I don't see the occasional jesting name being used appropriately by a colleague as a serious problem, any more than I would expect my very occasional lapses into 'parent' mode by calling a child a 'banana' to be pulled up.

NeverbuytheDailyMail · 27/05/2016 11:45

This is so tedious. I love how all the folk asking the teachers not to name call are being called the fun-hoovers. Surely if an adult can only be funny have "fun" by calling a child a name when they make a mistake then really they are the ones with a very limited sense of humour.

EquinoxBloom · 27/05/2016 11:47

Huge, massive, enormous yawn, as my kids would say....