One evening, at the end of a very long day, I was prevented from retiring to my dreamy, comfortable, down-covered bed by another rousing round of Helping a Teenager With Homework. I was losing my patience as the Teen in question was definitely not as focused as I thought he could be on finishing the assignment. In my frustration I raised my voice in exasperation, waved the book in emphasis and proclaimed: “If you are not going to put any effort into this, then there is no reason for me to be here! I don’t need to be doing this, I got an ‘A’ in stupid…”. Suddenly my mind became aware that if I finished the sentence I would inadvertently degrade the subject of my son’s study. I couldn’t be guilty of demeaning the value of a class, so instead, I stopped short. My son took this to be a delightfully revealing exchange, however. Now, whenever I am exerting my opinion regarding family issues he counsels the rest of my family: “Hey! We should all listen to what Mom says; after all, she did get an ‘A’ in Stupid.