Too cute!! :)

I guess I'm the only one on this thread that doesn't think this is at all funny. I'm the mom to a child who has special needs. I can tell you first hand that there is nothing funny about it. What exactly is it about this story that makes anyone want to share it? The fact that a kid mixed up the word retired with retarded? It's so unbelievable that people are laughing away and sharing this, while vulnerable people are asking you to stop using a word that hurts them. Don't any of you have the courage to speak out? Just seems really wrong and I'm surprised to see it here of all places.

I am a mother to a special needs child also and at first I didn't like it, but after finding out that Texans can't say the right word then I sort of understood it. ("Out of the mouths of babes,")

I love this. Kids are so funny. A friend of mine (also my hairdresser) has a little girl who is in 1st grade and has trouble pronouncing some of her words. While getting my hair cut a few weeks ago (her shop is in her home) the little girl came out to the shop and ask what was for supper. When her mommy told her it saurkraut/hot dogs, she said "I love love sour crotch". I tried not to laugh but she is simply too cute!

I'm not sure what to post. I didn't find the original post very funny but just chalked it up to a difference of opinion. I worked with special needs children and adults for many years and consider it a privilege to have done this.

Children do say very funny things and I will never forget some of the things my own children said when they were little. Still, I knew that someone would be hurt by the original post and I sincerely hope that no one is hurt by my feeling that the post was not funny. There is just no way that everyone will agree with either side.

What I did find funny is that SueDor states that she found out that Texans can't say the right word.

Now that made me laugh y'all!

Thanks for the laugh. :D

did you know that using the R word is very hurtful to people and the families of developmentally delayed family members. I'm sure you did not know that there is a nationwide move to stamp out the R word. I would urge you to rethink before sending it out again as I'm sure you would not want to offend or hurt anyone.

Not to put a damper on this thread, but this is not a "child's" original story. It was printed in a newspaper about 10 years ago and was written by an adult. At first read (years ago) I thought it was cute, but sorry, it really isn't. JMO

Exactly. And as the father of an autistic-spectrum son, now 44 yrs old, I read this so-called "cute" story and was immediately thrown back to all the times he was taunted, bullied and beaten by other kids and even so-called adults, who were taught by stupid adults that so-called "retarded" kids were fair game for that kind of treatment. Words hurt, people, and sometimes they kill...

Anyone who uses the words "retard" or "retarded" to refer to any person is either uneducated, unfeeling and/or unthinking. Sorry, that's the way I feel about it...

If memory serves me right, back in the olden days when a child was slow to learn, they were tested and a diagnosis of "retarded" was rendered by all the professionals and teachers. Then we became "politically correct" and had to invent new words to replace retarded.
It's terribly sad that some of you took this joke personally....It's obvious it wasn't meant to be. I, too, am offended by the use of that word in a derogatory manner but this was not used that way.
I'd like to recommend the book "Michael Vey" by Richard Paul Evans. He wrote it for his son who has tourettes and was being bullied at school....your children will love it. The sequeal comes out in August. I can't wait.