My wife and I are preparing our oldest son for kindergarten.  This is a huge step for him.  Our oldest has Down syndrome and we decided to hold him back a year in preschool.  Now, however, he is ready for kindergarten.  While I am excited about the new things my son will be exposed to I am also worried about some of the negative things that might occur.  My biggest fear is that he will be called a retard.

Yup, I said it. Retard.  Probably one of the meanest words you can say, yet people use it all the time.  “This computer is acting retarded.” You know you’ve heard it.  You may have even said it yourself.  You heard Napolean Dynomite use the word retard.  And that’s the trouble with the word.  It’s part of our lexicon.

As fathers we can help stop its use.  Our children look up to us and model our behavior.  We can choose other words that are less hurtful.  Most importantly we can take retard out of our vocabulary and make the world a tiny bit better for children like my son.

Are you willing to help?

Photo credit: uploaded to Flickr by Phototropism

Benjamin Strong is the Director of Marketing for the United States Coast Guard Amver search and rescue program.  He is the father of three boys, the oldest with Down syndrome.  You can follow his professional exploits on the Amver blog or on Twitter.  His personal thoughts are here.