Mustration

Geekygirl's preschool class are learning about feelings. She was telling me about it on the drive home.

"Mummy" she said, "Mustration is a kind of feeling"

"It is?" I replied. I love the stream of conciousness conversations we have in the car, and try to draw them out as much as I can.

"Mustration is like when you have a Cinderella neckalace, but you left it in the classroom, and you can't go back in the classroom to get it because the classroom is closed" she described.

Pretty impressed with this accurate rendition of a frustrating situation, I wondered if she was describing something that had actually happened. I asked "Were you playing with a Cinderella necklace today?"

This was met with indignation. "NO, Mummy, I"m just talking about something that might happen that might make us feel mustrated.

The idea that she is able to imagine such a detailed situation and relate it to a feeling just blew me away. I don't think we are paying these preschool teachers enough, because they are turning my baby girl into a precocious genius child.

I don't think I developed the ability to discuss my feelings (well, while sober) until I was about 35.