We've already established that my children have busy minds, busy hands, busy feet. Well, I have to confess they also have busy mouths. This is one area my parenting has been weak in. My kids talk back at times (daily?), they say mean things to each other, and they are rarely quiet.
Lately, 3 yo L has joined in the mouth busy-ness. She started off saying, "I don't like you!" to her siblings when she was angry. That escalated into "I hate you!" Then they morphed together into "I don't hate you!" That apparently is even worse than hating someone ... little does she know that she's actually saying she loves them. I'm trying to teach her to say "I'm mad at you" instead of .the unloving phrases. But it's hard to correct her when she makes you laugh every time she says "I don't hate you!"
Well, she apparently caught on that we were laughing at that statement, and it wasn't having the impact she desired ... so the little sinner decided to add more oomph to her insults. She pulled out the potty language. "P**py head" being her favorite one. Sigh. My first child didn't use such words at the tender age of 3 ... but my sixth is a different story.
We were sitting at the homeschool group's science fair this week when 5 yo M and 3 yo L had a disagreement. L stood at the back of the church's sanctuary and loudly proclaimed, "I don't hate you! You're being a P**p!"
It echoed through the room.
I admit that first I snickered, and I wasn't the only one. Then I let myself feel embarrassed. Such a lovely young Princess she is, surrounded by 3 boys. So sweet, so innocent ... not! I'm trying to bring them up in the teaching of the Lord, honest! We're still working on it.
Trusting in Him,
April
