Watching What You Say....

The conventional wisdom is correct: When you have a two-year-old, words you use in front of your child can quickly come back to haunt you. So, as much as possible, I attempt to moderate my language. Not that I'm claiming to have reached a point even close to perfection, but I try not to make any comment more offensive than, "Come on, Loser".

A couple of days ago when I was stopped at a red light, with no car in front of me, I heard a little voice come from the back of the car. "Come on, loser!" "Is Daddy a loser," I asked. "Yes." (I got a good chuckle out of that.)

The next day we were stopped behind another car. Again I hear, "Come on, loser!" An opportunity for a teachable moment? Let's see how well I did:

"Emma, you know how when people do something that isn't nice you like to tell them, 'That's not nice'? Well, calling people 'losers' isn't nice. So when you hear Daddy say, 'Come on, loser", I want you to say 'That's not nice'. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"So if I say, 'Come on, loser', you say 'That's not nice'."

"Okay."

Emma then addressed the car that remained stopped in front of us, "Come on, loser - that's not nice!"