Never Saw This One Coming. Updated

Homework, some love it, some despise it, some battle over it, some do it willingly. Thankfully in this house Lily has not only always done it willingly but she has always done it well. This evening was no exception and she sat at the desk with the computer as her study guide as she worked her way through her vocabulary words. She had to define each word and list 3-5 related words. As she sat down to do that I read over her math homework and then went about my business in the same room as her waiting to see when and if she would want my assistance.

I didn't wait long.

Her voice was filled with angst. "mummy, come here". I hurried over to her because I know that tone. On the screen in front of me was the word, "orphan". I looked from the screen to her vocabulary list where I saw the word again. I shuddered to myself as I thought how insensitive it was to put that word on her spelling list. At the same time my rational brain is telling me we can't avoid all sensitive words. It only takes nano seconds to glance at a computer screen and a composition book and at the same time Lily says with her voice drenched in a mixture of sadness and disgust, "I am NOT any of these. I am NOT a beggar, a street person or a hobo. I am not a tramp an urchin or a bum nor are any of my China sisters and I WILL NOT write these words down." I stared in utter disbelief at the screen wondering what the hell I was seeing. What Thesaurus had the teacher suggested that they use.

I held her and comforted her, I begged my tears to stay and not roll down my face. We talked and I searched 3 other sites, 2 matched exactly and one said,"no matches found".

Lily was hurt, angry and in fact defiant. I stood with her. I picked up the phone and called my voice of reason in matters like this and she concurred. A short note to the teacher was in order explaining that Lily was classified as an orphan at one stage in her life and she found the related words offered by numerous Thesauri to be insulting and demeaning and consequently I am asking that she be excused from that one line of the homework assignment with no attention whatsoever to be given to her in class regarding this matter.

I am angry. I am hurt. My child nor any other orphaned child should be classified as a beggar or a street person. WTF?

Yet again my girl has made me proud and I have told her that if there are any repercussions from this in class tomorrow I will declare a war.

This is straight from Thesaurus.com
orphan - 4 of 4 thesaurus results
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Orphan Synonyms
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Dictionary.com
Main Entry: orphan
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: child without parents
Synonyms: foundling, ragamuffin, stray, waif
Main Entry: ragamuffin
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: person who is poor, tattered
Synonyms: beggar, bum*, gamin, guttersnipe, hobo, loafer, orphan, scarecrow, street person, tatterdemalion, tramp, urchin, vagabond, vagrant, waif, wastrel
Antonyms: sophisticate
* = informal/non-formal usage

Many hours have passed since this happened yet I still have a knot in my stomach and my hands still don't feel as if they truly belong to me. I am not upset at the school teacher for giving this word although with all the words in the English language I think she could have found another it wasn't as if her vocabulary words for the week followed a theme.

Update.

Instead of fuming and being bent out of shape I have started a letter writing campaign to Thesaurus.com If you go to the website and scroll to the bottom of the page it says contact us. Click here.From there you can follow the links. I told them that their synonyms are incorrect. I also posted a similar post to this on Faceb00k, and all of my adoption groups and told the fine folk at thesaurus dot com to expect an increase in their email.

Lily has so many supporters and even my clients have emailed on her behalf. This isn't just for Lily but for all of our children. Please take the time to let them know that this is unacceptable.

Thank you.