pikon

 As the Holy Week nears, I reached into the baul to bring out another column that seeks to promote peace and non-violence.....i think
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       "Don't resort to violence," I always caution my son, Naki. "If somebody
teases you,  fight back with words."
       "Ang pikon laging talo," I reminded him of the local saying.
       The following day in school, somebody told him that he was vertically
challenged (please translate to kid speak as I may get heavily trounced by my eight-year-old son if I dare say the word and he reads this).
       "So what did you do?" I asked.
       "I told him that if I wanted his opinion then I would rattle his cage!" he answered proudly.
       "That's good", I told him. "Remember, avoid violence at all means. Ang pikon laging talo." 
         "Sure," my son answered, his nose stuck in a book of quick retorts and smart- alecky answers (Garfield, in other words).
       "By the way, 'Nay," he added. "If he comes at me again tomorrow, I'm going to tell him to, 'Impress me! Say something intelligent.'"
       In my resolve to stir him to non-violent action, I have realized that I am developing a kid with a quick retort to everything (well, except for questions like, "have you done your home-work?" or "are you going to take a bath na?  when a very innocent "ha?" becomes the standard reply).

       One time, while we were tucking him in for the night, my husband hugged Naki and began showering him with kisses. He  stroked Naki's hair, stared at him fondly and then pointed out to me that our son was beginning to look more and more like him every day.     
       
     A not- so-sleepy boy bolted out of bed and then begged us, "Tell me I'm adopted!"
       
      Just the other day, my mom was telling me that I had forgotten to lock the door of her cabinet. "But I never even opened it," I protested. And so we sat there thinking how it could have happened,  when a little voice piped in, "Well, it couldn't have been me. I'm not into picking locks." Picking locks he may not do but listening in on other people's conversation he has no qualms about.  Little jugs have big ears, eh?
       
       And finally, I was happily  recounting to my husband that during a reunion with some of my high school classmates, one of them had remarked that "pumayat daw ako."                                "Was he serious?" my smart-alecky son remarked as I turned to see a chortling red-faced Naki.

       "Am I talking to you?" I asked frostily, wishing very hard that I hadn't espoused the value of non-violence.
       Ang pikon laging talo.


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Written 10 years ago. 
To those who smiled, chuckled, laughed, became hysterical at the phrase:   one of my high school classmates  remarked that "pumayat daw ako, "...mabilaukan sana kayo! :)