Oh be careful little mouth what you say . . .

Sophia learns a lot of things at her school. She learns cute songs. She learns how to be a friend. She learns how to try new things. She also learns words we don't say. Sophia has a boy in her class, we'll call him Jake, who uses some unfortunate language--not cussing, just unfriendly words. Fortunately Sophia takes it very seriously when her teachers tell her "We don't say __________". It is not uncommon for Sophia to give us a report on the new words that "we don't say". She will tell us things like: "We don't say 'poopy-butt'. Jake does, but we don't say 'poopy-butt'." Or "We don't say 'shoot, shoot'. Jake does, but we don't say 'shoot, shoot'". You get the idea.

Sophia also enjoys making sure we don't say inappropriate things, though often her definition of inappropriate is a bit conservative. Take this conversation that Sophia and I had in the car for example:

Sophia: Mommy, do you remember that time I got sick and throwed up on you?

Mommy: Yes, Sophia, that was disgusting, wasn't it?

Sophia (appalled): Mommy, we don't say disgusting!

Mommy (wanting to encourage her daughter's developing, if overly sensitive, sense of appropriate language): Oh, I'm sorry, Sophia. That was gross, wasn't it?

Sophia: Mommy, we don't say gross. We don't say disgusting or gross or poopy-butt or gravy.

Mommy (wondering where this is going): Sophia, why don't we say gravy?

Sophia: Because I don't like to eat gravy. It's yucky. We shouldn't say it.

Oh be careful little mouth what you say . . .