Monday, June 13, 2011
Impulse Override
"Blech!" Emmie says, and hocks her gum onto the ground. "Dis gum taste like banana farts."
That is exactly what that gum tastes like, and the reason I'm not chewing it. But I can't encourage that behavior. So I have to sit with my eyes closed and just breathe to keep from laughing. It's super funny (banana farts! LOL!), but rude. She sees me do this, recognizes it for what it usually is (a precursor to privileges being taken away) and panics.
"But, Mama, you always tell me to tell da troof!" she pleads. "My brain tell me dat's true, an' den I say it!"
"Yes, but we don't spit our food on the ground - and you don't have to say every true thing out loud. What you said was not polite," I explain. "It's best to think impolite thoughts to ourselves, and not speak them."
She considers this for a moment: "But den I won't hab nuffing to say."
... Unfortunately, she has a point.
She does have a point; and then, you also have to be careful not to teach her to tell "incomplete truths"... parenting is not easy, and she does not help, most of the time. She is too brilliant and challenges you all too often! Ha ha!
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