Thank God for High School Spanish Class

"The turtles es malo" a boy muttered under his breath, just loud enough for myself and my son who started kindergarten yesterday to hear. My ears perked because I knew he was referring to the very cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle umbrella my son was holding to deflect the drizzle. We just arrived at the busstop, our first official day of my son, Ethan riding the bus solo, with older kids and arriving at kindergarten all by himself. I was somewhat surprised at the large amount of kids at the school busstop but didn't think much of it. My younger son made quick friends with another child, asking him "how old are you?" and saying "I have a batman umbrella that my brother left as school yesterday." Ethan, however, stood quiet. He was nervous, and rightly so. A lot of older kids he didn't know and Ethan craves approval. He is shy initially but once someone shows interest, he is off and running trying to make them laugh or give some type of "you are cool" gesture so he can feel like he fits in. So, when I heard the phrase "The turtles es malo" I started to get a little angry. I knew the kid didn't think I knew spanish and I knew he was trying to make Ethan feel bad because he had an umbrella (this kid did not). Ethan didn't know what he was saying, but I did. I let him say it one more time and then I turned around and said, "So, Why do you think the Turtles are bad?" The kid didn't reply, probably not realizing I knew what he was saying. I repeated myself. He looked at me, not sure how to reply because you can bet he had no idea I knew spanish and he thought he was making me and my son feel bad. He said, "I don't know, its like a little kids show, I don't watch that anymore." So I asked him, "What do you watch?" "Cartoon Network." I continued, "So you watch like Foster's Home?" Another look of surprise. "Yeah," he said. I obviously caught this kid off gaurd and I was making him increasingly uncomfortable. I asked him what grade he was in and he ignored me and slipped away. Man, I thank God for my High School Spanish Class! This little punk was intentionally trying to make my son feel uncomfortable by mentioned the "turtles" and I called him on it. I have new resolve to learn more spanish and protect my son from people shooting their mouth off in attempts to make him feel inadequate and uncomfortable.