December 07, 2010

The Phrase I'm Banning from My House

I used to think Not Me was the phrase I want extinguished from my daughters' vocabulary. Not Me is the child responsible for every naughty thing in my house. Who made this mess? Not Me. Who pulled this decoration off the tree? Not Me. You get the idea. But I say bring back that demon child and her naughty ways if it means I can ban a different phrase: But mom!
It never fails. Whenever I tell my daughters to do something, I am greeted with a resounding chorus of "But Mom!!!" You need to go to your room for a five minute time out. But mom! It's time to clean up. But mom! I could tell my daughters it is raining lollipops and they would still answer me with "But mom" before running to the window to see this once-in-a-lifetime event.
I finally reached my breaking point one day. I told my daughters I did not want to hear them "But momming" me. (If they were just a few years older, I'm sure that request would have been met with a chorus of giggles or snide comments). I might actually be making some progress. The other day one of the girls gave me her standard "But mom...." reply. I looked at her and said "Excuse me?" She thought about it for a minute, rolled her eyes and did what she was told. Hmmmm.... eye rolling. It's not a phrase, which means I could ban "But mom" (phrase) and eye rolling (gesture) for life.... right?!

6 comments:

MaryAnne said...

The phrase in our house is "It's too hard!". EVERYTHING is too hard - getting dressed, picking up socks, eating breakfast...

Quadmama said...

Instead of "It's too hard," my daughters tell me "I'm too tired."

Stephanie Barr said...

My teen's? "I'm working on it."

Oy!

Sadia said...

Melly's is, "I can't handle it," and Jessie's is "but, but, but." The latter has made few appearances recently, thank goodness!

With two "not me" doesn't work nearly so well. :)

Quadmama said...

I don't know, Sadia... Not Me is said four times over when I ask a question. Clearly they don't understand I know it HAS to be one of them!

Becky said...

There is a family circus cartoon about this....in it "NOT ME" is this little "ghost" that the mom can't see.

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