did you just say shut-up?

We hear that question quite often coming out of Ethan's mouth. He thinks "shut-up" is one of the worst things you could possibly say. He's mortified when he hears kids say it at the park. But, he has a phobia about the word and so he thinks he's hearing it all the time. Rachel will say "I put this up over here!" and he'll say "Rache, did you just say shut-up?" - it makes us laugh, but I'm sure it annoys his sisters.

The other day he asked me "why do bad words exist? What makes them bad? Who makes them up?" all good questions, I just wasn't quite sure how to answer him. I told him that bad words, wrong attitudes, evil intentions are all a result of the fall. That its part of sin; which is doing, thinking or believing anything that goes against God's word. He seemed happy with that answer, but his follow-up question {which I knew was coming, since Ethan's mind is constantly curious} was "then... how do I know if I'm saying a bad word? What if I don't know its one, but I say it and someone else has made it a bad word?"
So I told him that things aren't necessarily bad or wrong, if we don't know they bad. But as soon as someone says "oh, that's not appropriate, lets not use that word." we need to stop, since now we know.
If we say "google boy" and we don't mean it in a mean spirited way, then its not bad. But if we already know a word is meant to hurt people or is just an unkind way to describe something, we should make sure never to say it, even if we don't mean it a bad way.

This was such a reminder to me that our kids are listening to everything we say! It amazes me sometimes, the questions he has after he hears us talking. I have never sat down and explained the political parties to our kids, ever. But a few months ago I said something about "the President of the United States" to Rachel and she said "oh, yes! the man with brown skin who lives in that big white house." What?! How does she know these things?! She said she heard me telling Ethan once that the white house, where the President lives, is in Washington D.C, which is in Maryland. She remembered all of that and it wasn't even something I was telling her! Amazing. I'm still wondering how she knew to describe President Obama as "the man with brown skin" but somehow, she knows ;-)

It made me start to wonder... what are some of the funny, shocking, amazing things your kids have come up with or wondered about, strictly from overhearing conversations?

Comments

Melissa Joy said…
Since my boy is just learning to speak, I don't have anything too amazing...
But I do love how every day when I give myself blood thinner shots, he says "go Mommy go" until I am done injecting and then he claps and says "yay Mommy" and then sometimes walks away proudly saying "Mommy baby, Mommy baby" because *once* he heard his daddy encouraging me to keep going because the shots might give us a chance of having another baby.
I love that he knows that, and I never even told him. :)
Stef said…
oh my goodness, Melissa, that is gonna win the prize for sure! Wow... what a sweetie pie and even cuter that he's heard Daddy cheering you on. I love when the kids say those completely adorable things, because they heard Daddy & Mommy speaking so kindly to one another <3
W and J said…
Oh, I love this!! So excited for this stage, for sure..but also nervous to be able to find the right words to explain things. It is TRULY amazing how much they mimic and listen to us! We've already seen it in moments with E....nothing verbal, yet! ;)
Stef said…
Jess, its definitely a fun stage. I love that the kids and I have such deep conversations. But yes, its rough to know what to say that's going to help them the best. Remembering God will give wisdom when I need it, sure helps.
Before you know it, you'll be in this stage with Mr. Ezra and probably more babies God gives you ;-)
Jessica said…
Oh, I love this!! So excited for this stage, for sure..but also nervous to be able to find the right words to explain things. It is TRULY amazing how much they mimic and listen to us! We've already seen it in moments with E....nothing verbal, yet! ;)
Melissa Joy said…
Since my boy is just learning to speak, I don't have anything too amazing...
But I do love how every day when I give myself blood thinner shots, he says "go Mommy go" until I am done injecting and then he claps and says "yay Mommy" and then sometimes walks away proudly saying "Mommy baby, Mommy baby" because *once* he heard his daddy encouraging me to keep going because the shots might give us a chance of having another baby.
I love that he knows that, and I never even told him. :)

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