Guinea Pigs.

My kids are so much more mature this year than in years past, but every once in awhile--thank goodness--they forget about being cool and are just their vulnerable selves.

Yesterday I had some paper pattern blocks I wanted the kids to punch out for a math lesson.  This was the first time I'd done the lesson this way, so I said, "Okay guys, I'm not sure if this will work or not, but you can be my guinea pigs and try it." 

"Okay!"  They all said.

We tried it...the blocks were the wrong size and didn't work, so I said, "You guys can just play with them or take them home or whatever when your math is finished."

So a few minutes later, a little girl, L, came up to the table for me to check her math work.  She looked at the paper pattern blocks beside me and said,  "So when I'm done I can do this guinea pig thing?"

Me:  "No, there is no guinea pig.  That's just a saying.  If you're a guinea pig for someone, it means you test things out for them to see if things work."

L:  "Oh.  Hmmm...so we'll just do the guinea pig thing tomorrow, then?"

Me: "No, dear.  There is no guinea pig thing.  You can play with these blocks if you want and test them out like a guinea pig."

L:  "Hmm.  So I guess we're just not going to do the guinea pig activity at all today?  Okay.  You'll just bring the guinea pig tomorrow, right?"

Me: *sigh*  "Sure."

Guess what? It's tomorrow and the guinea pig has successfully been forgotten.