My sweet little girl has a new favorite word. It's not a "bad" word, or a curse word, or an inappropriate word really. It's just a word that sounds... wrong... coming out of an innocent mouth.
The word is "HATE" and she has been experimenting with it for several days now, usually without even meaning it. She hates that shirt, she hates the crust on the toast, she hates this song, she hates the grumpy cashier at the Dollar Store. I know it will pass, but I can't help but cringe just a little each time I hear it. I hate that word. Such a negative, ugly-sounding word.
And where would she have heard it? Her brothers don't say it with any regularly. Her father doesn't say it with any regularity. Her mother... just said it yesterday in reference to a driver's cell-phone-yapping activities that almost got her sideswiped on a busy street. :( And I'm sure it wasn't the first time this week, or even that day. Because for all my outer calm and zen-ness, I have an embarrassingly long list of minor grievances with, well, the world (and sometimes the people that inhabit it). An all too often conversation in the house starts with the following: Me - You know what I hate? Husband - Lots of things?
Sigh.
You know how sometimes when you fill out one of those silly surveys, it will ask you for your biggest pet peeve/s? I always have trouble answering those, because there are just too many to choose from. And I may or may not use the word, 'hate' to describe many of them. I never use it to describe people (I do not hate anyone), but I do use it.
And now my little girl uses it too.
I can't stop her from using it, and I know that in time she'll only use it when she really means it... but I can work on how discriminating I am when I use it myself (or even better, stop using it altogether). Because my daughter is now overly fond of a negative word thanks to me....
and I really hate that.
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