Emma has learned a new phrase…poo-poo head. (Responsible party- you KNOW who you are.) This is almost a 4 letter word and definitely the worst word she knows. Our good friend TJ (4) has been hanging out with us a lot this weekend and whenever he and Aubrey get distracted and aren’t giving Emma enough attention she’ll scream at the top of her lungs, “POO-POO HEAD!”
Which leads to a chorus of whiny, nagging voices singing in unison, “Emma said poo-poo head!” (In the tattle-tale-tone-of-voice…you know the one.) We have tried time out, sending her to her room, ignoring her (by ‘we’ I mean me and the two 4 year-olds) and ostracizing her when she talks “ugly.” All to no avail.
Finally, at lunchtime today, Emma said “poo-poo head” one too many times. She wasn’t even calling anybody a name, she just said it for the shock factor. In a fit of desperation, I swept her off of her seat and on to the kitchen counter and did something I’d only heard about before…I grabbed a bottle of hot sauce. Aubrey elbowed TJ at the table and said, “Ohhhh, this ISN’T going to be cute!” I dabbed some hot sauce on my finger, pried her mouth open and put it on her tongue.
Emma’s crying was short lived but she was traumatized enough to tell me about 100 times:
“I not say poo-poo head anymore!”
I’m thinking if she’s repentant it doesn’t count, right?
You crack me up! I hadn’t heard of dabbing hot sauce, but that’s a good idea! Poor little Emma, finally had to learn what NOT to say the hard way.
Remember Mrs. Mary Ivey in Jasper? She told a great story about one of her boys who was a cusser. After he had said “damn” one too many times, she sat him down on the counter and washed his mouth out with soap, to which he responded, “Damn! That tastes bad!”
Hahahah – my husband tried this when one of my girls (now almost 10) was about 3. She pushed him over the edge with her sass and back talk – so he got out the hot sauce as she had been threatened with many times – and meant to put a dab on her tongue. Sadly, he did it right from the bottle and ended up pouring ALOT onto her tongue. Her horrified little face was priceless – but the torturous crying (it really was alot) just about killed Daddy. I think even at 3 Morgan knew the punisher had just become the punished. She now LOVES hot sauce on her food! =)