Friday, January 16, 2009

The Misses (Bad) Manners

I had been so proud of my girls and the way they acted like the perfect little ladies, always saying 'please' and 'thank you' and 'pardon me' whenever it was appropriate. I often congratulated myself and my fantastic child raising abilities, resulting in my two adorable daughters with impeccable manners.

Obviously I was congratulating myself too soon, because lately, "Ew, that's disgusting," is the most frequently heard phrase around our home. And the most frequently heard sound.... Annelie tooting at Gracie's command, and the girls both exploding with giggles while Gracie shrieks, "Annelie did a FART!"

Gracie is the bad example when it comes to the things she has taught her very impressionable little sister, but where she gets her bad example from... I can only point my finger at her dad, who thinks "Pull my finger" is a perfectly appropriate question with a very hilarious punchline.

But lately, Gracie has started spouting out some rude things that, though I remember saying them when I was a little girl, how she learned them, I have no idea.

The other night, I set her dinner (chicken nuggets, french fries and veggies - nothing unusual) in front of her, and she instantly scrunched up her face, held her nose and declared, "I'm not gonna eat this. Something stinks!"

Annelie, watching Gracie very carefully, plugged her own nose and said, "Ew yuck, zas zis-zus-sting!" - (translation: "Ew yuck, that's disgusting" - for those who don't speak 2-year-old)

What??? Where did THAT come from? What happened to my adorable little angels who smiled and said, "Yum! Chicken nuggets! Thanks, Mom! You make the most delicious dinner ever" - Okay, they never said it quite like that, but they certainly didn't plug their noses and declare that their dinner stinks.

What I'm going to do with these little girls, I have no idea. We are getting dangerously close to the stage in their childhood where I can't take them anywhere lest they humiliate me. I had figured that, with perfect manner drilling beginning at babyhood, I'd be able to bypass all the embarrassing kid bad habits and rude behavior... but I was wrong. No matter how lady-like I instruct them to be, laughing at potty humor, tooting at the dinner table, and announcing that I have bad breath first thing in the morning, seems to just come with the territory of them being kids.

Moms out there, once again, I am open to suggestions and stories. Spill them please, and let me know that I'm not the only mom out there with adorable little girls... with terrible manners despite the constant reminding to say 'please,' 'thank you,' and 'pardon me.'

xoxo,

19 comments:

Momma J said...

Oh that is one of my big pet peeves - when my girls say something bad about food being served to them - drives me crazy!!

Marianne
www.crochetbymommaj.etsy.com
www.crochetbymommaj.blogspot.com

Melanie @ Whimsical Creations said...

I'm sorry to say, we will be reminding them for the rest of their life. My son went to kindergarten and came home with attitude. He loves to rough house with my husband (drives me nuts) My daughter has leaarned to chest bump people-why me?!

Lorissa J. Longfellow said...

When you figure it out let me know. LOL
I think Whimsical Creations is right, we will be reminding them for the rest of their life.

Cathy said...

lol...hopefully they will outgrow it by school age! Not sure if my boys use their manners at daycare but I'm constantly reminding them to say please and thank you...

Thomas has a habit of saying "Huh?" when he wants something repeated... and Daniel proudly announces when he has done a fart (much to Thomas' amusement)no matter where we are!

Marie said...

Ha! Ha! Potty talk is the most hilarious thing because you can so get away with it as a kid...all kids do it that's for sure, so don't feel bad. Maddie repeats everything the older 2 say and do, so we try to remind them that they are being an example for their baby sister (not that they care). My kids think it's especially funny to make Maddie do all the dirty work so they don't technically get in trouble for it, like streaking across the house or going to get the forbidden snacks.

Cathy said...

oh, and Thomas thinks it's hilarious to say "poo poo" - maybe it has something to do with the fact that I read him the picture book "The Little Mole Who Knew it was None of his Business" (it features lots of poo)

Anonymous said...

Well, my son already thinks farting and spitting are hilarious, and he can't even pronounce words yet....

April said...

I heard from the 3yr old today (after I got onto the 7yr old for something), "Mommy, don't talk to my sister that way!" Wait... you're HOW old again???

Janna said...

Oh, we have very similar things going on at our house. Zach screams, demonstrating what he wants Lane to do...then Lane screams on command, repeatedly. Zach laughs every time Lane screams, and Lane just screams more. And throws his peas by the fistful. In fact, it's gotten so bad, we have sworn off going out to eat. I just pick up takeout instead of enduring public humiliation at the hands of my kids. Hopefully (for both of us) this is just a phase that will pass.

Winklepots said...

Well, my adorable 4 year old thinks it's hilarious when she burps that she'll laugh and say, "Oops, tooters of the mouth." :oP
I'm used to hearing "ew, Peri no like/eat dinner" that I no longer make dinner for her and feed her kibble instead. :oP I've saved a TON on my grocery bill. ;o)

kiddlebug said...

I got the "ugh....whatever!" from my 4 year old the other day, when I asked her to hang up her jacket.
She seemed surprised when I told her that was disrespectful and I didn't want to hear her use that tone again. When did I turn into my mother and when did my sweet baby start talking like a teenager?

http://www.kiddlebug.blogspot.com/

Beth said...

I have a 4 year old and 17 month old. Both boys. So, the fascinations with disgusting things will be around for a very long time and will most likely escalate as they grow older.

I say this so much it is probably repeated in my sleep, "yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir, thank you, please", etc.

As I wrote this, the 4 year old was crawling under the kitchen chair--something he is not allowed to do. *sigh*

Allie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Allie said...

Precious post, Marisa, as usual! Everyone in our house thinks tooting is funny - even our very ladylike big girls, and the 18-month-old. And I will say that there is an adult in this house, and at my father's house - I won't mention any names....but based on the other posts here, I'm betting you can guess who the two culprits are...who lead the way.One of these adults is also the one responsible for our big girls occasionally referring to a male body part as a "jimmy". Yikes! ..funny, funny. This made me smile.....:), allie

TMCPhoto said...

You are not alone, you're not even in a small group....

My darling little princess is not to blame for her fart humour. At the tender age of 3 months she lifted one leg and let one rip. Hilarity ensued, we all laughed so hard that there is no way that I will be able to convince her that laughing at farts and burps is not funny. Yesterday I asked her to blow her nose and she let a nice fart go as soon as the tissue touched her nose. I know it wasn't done on purpose but I'm afraid our reaction only further cemented her potty humour

Uneekdolldesigns said...

Kids will always do something from time to time to make you want to crawl in the ground and hide...goes with the territory! I have founr now teens and the best I can tell you is when they do something you find embarrassing, you just have to correct them...if need be a thousand times and maybe one day it takes hold! :)

Anne said...

Okay, I'm totally laughing at your sweet little angels engaging in potty humor. We get potty humor from our little girl, too. Lately my father has been thinking it's funny to teach her jokes like "pull my finger" or songs like "beans, beans, the magical fruit." I don't think there's any real fix to it, though when it happens we just kind of make a disapproving face and say, "gosh, that's sounding like potty humor and that's really not funny. That's just rude." It's helped take some of the shock value out of it, though the side effect is that Liv is now very quick to point out to us when we use potty words like "butt" or "fart." Nothing like being reprimanded by a 5-year-old.

Shanell said...

yeah, Katie told me the other day that her lemondade "tastes like ass"!! I WOULD say "I don't know where she gets it", but I do know where she gets it.

Denise Felton said...

I'd like to tell you that they'll outgrow it and become mannerly ladies again. But my daughter and her fiance have farting contests and then tattle on one another. (I'm thinking of moving in with Casserole and just letting them have the house. Ew.)

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