Yes, Ma'am, Mommy, Sir

The countdown begins. There is one more week until the first day of school.

Woo hoo!

I have never been so excited for something in my whole entire life. This year, my son will start Kindergarten. He is so ready. And so am I.

One thing we know he'll have to do in Kindergarten is answer his teacher politely with a, "Yes, ma'am." We've been preparing for it.

You see, ma'am and sir are terms I hardly ever heard growing up. Unless you were serving in the military or were in prison, addressing people that way is just not something we did in New England. So it is not something we taught our kids.

Luckily, though, we did teach them to always answer us with, "Yes, Mommy," or, "Yes, Daddy." I think that when kids verbally confirm that they have heard an instruction or command, they are more likely to follow through and do as they were told. It also keeps me from having to repeat, "Do you hear me?" over and over again.

So, a "Yes, ma'am," isn't too hard to adapt.

But being five-years-old and a military kid, my son has taken it to a whole other place. He probably thinks he's being cute when he clicks his heels together, salutes me, and calls out, "Yes, ma'am, Mommy, sir." But it can be a little embarrassing when he does it at Target. That's taking the whole Major Mom thing a little too far.

However, it is less embarrassing than what he called out at the Boardwalk this weekend. He bumped into me, as he so often does, but bounced right off. He then felt it needful to announce loudly enough for everyone to hear, "I'm sorry I bumped you, Mommy. But thank you for having such a big, squishy butt."

I'm thinking about sending him to a military academy. Do they have those for Kindergartners?