If you want to drive me crazy really fast, refer to your students as kiddos all the time. If you use the word to refer to your own children, the word has no effect on me at all, but when used by a teacher or other educational professional about the children or students under their professional watch, it wears on me to the point of distraction almost instantly. Basically, I feel it dehumanizes the children and infantilizes them. I know that it is meant with the nicest of intentions and those who use this word universally think I’m overreacting. It’s basically the difference among cat, kitten, and kitty, or dog, pup, and puppy. The children are our clients, so to speak, and using the diminutive form of a word that’s already a diminutive allows the speaker to forget that they are in a professional role with that human.
For me, the issue is more about the mindset or the subconscious intention that it portrays about the person using the word. Think about a man who calls everyone chief. That guy is using a word that is a lazy placeholder for a more descriptive and more personal term that would indicate a deeper level of respect for the person being addressed. I know that many of you who read this will dismiss this instantly as the ramblings of someone who doesn’t have any real problems to complain about, but, if you listen closely to how people use this term, I guarantee you will eventually recognize that the people who are using this word in the way I’ve described treat these young students like kitties and puppies instead of children and students that need our professional selves to be using evidence-based practices.
Bryan Cichy-Parker, Ph.D.
June 15, 2024
