Before I recount this, FYI my kid is a little dark. That picture is him at 4 years old playing Mad Hatter… At the dinner table he once demanded of a french fry, “Tell me all your secrets!” He has been known to randomly chant “Kali Ma.” He’s beyond Emo… And he’s only 6.

When the current school year started, my kids were still in the public school system, and it was the beginning of Kindergarten for the middle one. As any parent can tell you, the beginning of the school year is that magical time when every kid brings home a random mix of viruses, bacteria, and general ick. And if they are starting Kindergarten, sometimes you wonder if the class is experimenting with bio-warfare.

So what did the middle child bring home…? Warts.

Yes, warts.

He had one on his left thumb, one on his right middle finger, and one on his right ring finger. These things were awful and painful. He hated having them.

The doctor tried freezing them off. Fail. I tried liquid wart remover. Fail. I tried the liquid remover, covered with a bandaid to soften it up. Fail. I tried an old “home remedy,” covering them in duct tape. Fail.

I even resorted to filing, trimming, trying to cut the damned things off. More fail.

Finally, he decided he was just over these things. I mean OVER IT.

Systematically over the last week, my six year old son has been ripping the warts out, one by one. Gross? Yes. Effective? Apparently.

My child forcibly ripped something out of his flesh because it was bothering him. That’s pretty bad-ass. And also a little frightening…