Language

Eliza Claire has picked up the phrase "oh, darn" somewhere this week and is using it with alarming frequency. Call me old fashioned, a prude, a good mom, whatever, but I don't think it is appropriate for my 4.5 year old to be walking around saying "oh, darn."

It happened twice yesterday and we talked about other things she could say instead, like "guts," "oh, bummer," and "oh, my." She didn't seem to like any of these. She didn't argue with us but she also didn't agree with us either. In Eliza Claire terms that means in her stubbornness she isn't going to argue but she's also not going to change anything.

Tonight something frustrated her and she said, "darn!" I reminded her that "we don't say that." Her response, "well, I only said half!" Yeah, Sweetie, you did. Next time, could you say the other half?

So we once again had the discussion about "darn" not being an appropriate word and that she needed to find something else to say when she was frustrated. Once again, she listened quietly and walked off meaning she's not done saying "darn."

I apologize now if you hear her. Just know, her father and I don't approve and are working on a solution to curb the usage of said term.

This reminded me of a funny Ruby story. Last summer, Ruby needed a word for when she was frustrated and after seeing the Ramona and Beezus movie she and I decided that "guts!" was the perfect word for her. Later that afternoon I asked her to tell her dad her new word for when she was upset. She yelled "butts!" at the top of her lungs. Yeah, we aren't big on that word in our family either.

Jenn - posted from my iPhone