A Useful Education

The topic was kisses.

"I want to give Colin a kiss," said Caroline.
"That's nice," I said. "Go kiss him."
"Well, he doesn't want to be kissed. Whenever I try, he pushes me away," she replied.
"Well, you shouldn't kiss him if he doesn't want to be kissed," I answered. After some thought, I added truthfully -- "of course, my strategy is just to grab him, hold him down, and kiss him anyway."
"Usually," shared Caroline, "I can fool him. I can say 'hey look! There's a flying donkey.' He turns to look and then I kiss him. He's such a sap."

I let that sink in for a second.

"Did you say 'sap'?" I asked.
"Uh-huh. It means someone who is easily fooled," says the walking dictionary.
"That's true," I said, "but how do you know that?"
"Geez, Mom! That's like the most common word in The Word Game."

The Word Game is a game played at school, where the students are given certain letters and asked to make as many words out of those letters as they can.

Sap. It's good to know they are learning something useful in school. As an oldest child, I know that there is nothing more important in life than being able to effectively and creatively insult your younger brother.