Parental Pet Peeves (And Letting Them Go)
Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 12:07AM 
Child: "I'm so, like, gonna have a popsicle." (Thank you Zack, Cody, Hannah, and Sonny.)
"Poop poop poop. Butt butt butt. Poop poop poop. Butt butt butt." (The Terrible Twos have nothing on the Fecal Fives.)
"Say it loud: 'I am a dirtbag!'" (Don't ever watch Over the Hedge if you're not ok with hearing this constantly thereafter.)
"Can I have another cup? This one's stupid." (Thank you Lucy van Pelt.)
Parent: "NICE WORDS, PLEASE..."
You can't stash them away in one of those "Altered States" isolation tanks, it's neither legal nor kind. You can't constantly police this stuff, life's too short and you have better people to be than an insufferable nag. Personally, I'm keeping close at hand the expression on my kid's face when he orchestrated a thoughtful surprise, and pushing the "That's enough!!!!" line back a few more ticks.