Why you should never say the word fat in front of second grade students

I love observing a K-12 school. You get to see a tight-knit community work together well because they have known each other their whole life. The teachers have known them just as long and are as motivated as the student themselves to see them succeed. 

I loved observing the older students, because I could have an adult conversation with each of them. About career choices, family issues, and college. I love that they are mature enough to have those conversations.

The hard part was, I forgot about this when I taught my lesson to the second grade students.

I taught the students about symmetry, and we did so by making bugs. The students used scrap paper, which they folded in half and cut out shapes for their bugs body, so that both sides were equal

One of the projects a student made.

I was explaining to the students that they had to make their bug big enough to fit on the leaf. Then one boy asked the question.

"Could we make a fat bug?"

I do not know what told me to say "Yes, you could make a fat bug if you want to."

I realized right after I said those words what a huge mistake I made. The students were shocked that I had said fat. they giggled and looked at each other. One of the boys tapped on my shoulder during the demonstration and told me that I shouldn't have said that word, that it wasn't very nice. I apologized to him and agreed with him. 

I regretted what I said the rest of the day. I still regret saying it. It wasn't okay. Something in that half of a second before I responded said that they were mature enough to understand what I meant by the word. I watched the words I used after that. It's something I am not going to forget saying. Ever. It will follow me through my teaching career.