This article looks at the way language subtly shapes and constrains the way we perceive reality. It examines one term-parental involvement. This apparently simple and democratic term serves as a portfolio of meanings that separate and divide. It illustrates two of these meanings, which take the form of a conjoined metaphor of "full/empty", or "lacking/having." The article shows the way these two metaphors place parents in a binary of those who give and those who receive. Finally, it argues that such understandings are unconscious and persistent, making it imperative for urban educators to carefully examine the language they use if they are not to remain enmeshed in a discourse of deficit.