Sunday, February 26, 2012

Littles??? So OVER it!

lit·tle/ˈlitl/ Definition:

Adjective:
  1. Small in size, amount, or degree (often used to convey an appealing diminutiveness or express an affectionate or condescending attitude).
  2. A small amount of: "we got a little help from my sister"; "you only see a little of what he can do".
I found the condescending part above quite humorous.

When you Google the term "Littles", the following is the result:

 A series of children's novels " The Littles" by John Peterson

I like the kitty...that is all


An animated series based on "The Littles"

 I personally think the characters look a LOT like mice or rats...nice huh? Just what I want to refer to my kids as, let alone other peoples kids!


When you Google the term Littles WITH the word Blog, you get the following:

A Blog called  Life with Littles: Anything but sugar-coated parenting - citizen blog

BLECK...love how the kids are looking clinging and annoying, and the mother visibly throwing her hands up!


Another Blog called Life With My Littles


A compilation of parenting, religion, cloth diapers, and military.

BTW...the blog above has over 1800 followers, mine has 120, perhaps I am missing something.

A Pediatric Office in Oregon named
Littles Pediatrics


Can you imagine saying, oh yeah, I have an appointment at "Littles" with Dr. Chris. ???

If you Search the word Littles in Kelle Hamptons' blog


you get page, after page, after page, of blog posts with the word Littles in it

Kelle's blog BTW was the first blog where I noticed the RAMPANT use of the word I have come to abhor. Now since she has a mere 17,000 followers (give or take ;) ), perhaps that is why I have seen an influx in the blogs using the word to describe their kids.

Just to make sure I wasn't being a hypocrite, I searched my own blog for the word "littles" no search results came up, but there will be after I hit the publish button. CRAP ;)

Ok, so this all being said, there are many things that you can call your child:

I went to thesaurus.com

Main Entry:
child [chahyld] Show IPA
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: very young person
Synonyms: adolescent, anklebiter, babe, baby, bairn, bambino, brat, cherub, chick, cub, descendant, dickens, imp, infant, innocent, issue, juvenile, kid, kiddie, lamb, little angel, little darling, little doll, little one, minor, mite, moppet, neonate, nestling, newborn, nipper, nursling, offspring, preteen, progeny, pubescent, shaver, small fry, sprout, squirt, stripling, suckling, tadpole, teen, teenager, teenybopper, toddler, tot, tyke, urchin, whippersnapper, young one, youngster, youth
Antonyms: adult

So, in an effort to obliterate this term from being used to refer to kids, children, tots, babies, cherubs, etc. I am asking you to pass this post along, to spread the word, and try and refrain from using the word yourself. 

Think about it... I mean, if you were a kid, would you want to be called a "little", when all you really wanted to be was big?

If I have offended you, if you are a user of this word I hate, please know that this is just my opinion, and like this says


Now, please excuse me as I step off of my soapbox. 
;)

 

3 comments:

jules said...

Hee hee hee. I like to use the term little ones, but littles no way! You are a riot and I love it when you get on a soapbox.

mmmmwaaaa!

Dree said...

The Littles by Peterson were my FAVORITE books in early grade school. I still have them. (I even used to make furniture and stuff from spools, etc, hoping they would come live in my house...) My kids never got into them.

I have actually never heard the term "The Littles" to refer to kids. Til now! Maybe because my kids aren't quite that small...er, little...anymore?

Mae said...

Hahahaha! I started seeing this a couple of years ago when I started reading Soulmama's blog. I, too, found it extremely annoying and my
"littles" are 27 and 19. I babysit for 4 toddlers and my 11 mo old grandson and I am pretty sure I will never refer to them as "littles" for the very same reasons you mentioned. Thanks for the laugh.