If anyone had ever told me before I was a mother, that I would be putting great thought into the words that I teach my children, I would have laughed. I am not talking about what I am teaching them, in a philosophical way. Of course, we all put plenty of thought into how we want to raise our children. Or least I like to believe we all do. But little did I know that the simplest of things can become quite puzzling. Do I teach them penis and vagina, or do I call it a pee pee and girl parts? Never would I have believed that this would become something that I pondered. Do I say butt or bottom? There are words that I have never given a great deal of thought to at all, but when I hear them come out of my four year old's mouth, I finally understand why my mom would correct simple things I said. It seems odd to me to hear little people using grown up words. I heard a little boy at the park the other day say "that hurt my balls." Is it wrong? Who am I to judge? But it did shock me, and then I considered, what do I want him to say?
The problem continues. Is it peepee, teetee, or urine? I have settled on poop and peepee. I mean seriously, what else should a four year old call his feces and urine? I even catch myself asking my patients if they need to go peepee. The first time moms look at me like I am crazy. The ones with kids at home just giggle with total understanding. Recently, I discovered that my children and I had never really discussed, well...passing gas. I have to admit, I really don't like any of the words I know for this bodily function. Fart sounds crude, but tends to be the most popular among the kids. I hate both toot and poot just on principle. No good explanation, just can't bring myself to use them. A four year saying "passed gas" seems ridiculous, so I am glad to announce that my son has come up with his own word for this function, and it is actually pretty cute, and an accurate description. After farting, for lack of a better word, Colin said "oh no Mommy, my poop popped" From that day forward, we started to call it poop popping. We all occasionally have our poop pop, and frankly, it seems like the perfect thing for my son to say. Now, if only I can get him to stop saying butt, and start saying bottom...
My niece says laughs and says that she has "gas in her butt".
ReplyDeleteMy son used to call his feces "ooo yuck". It was fun one time when he announced loud enough for the entire Chic-fil-A to hear, "I've got to go ooo yuck!" He was 3. Fortunately he grew out of it. But he's a teenager now and has other words. I miss ooo yuck...
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