It's a known fact. Children love to eavesdrop. Michael loves to add his two cents worth to our conversations or we'll hear it repeated later and wonder how he knew that or when he was listening to us! Krista did the same thing when she was younger, too. Though I think she still enjoys listening to adults conversing.
We were on our way to Valencia the other day. I think. Krista commented that her nose still hurt from her dodge ball encounter a month ago. Here's a sneak peak into the conversation...:
Jacob: You probably have a micro fracture or something.
Michael: Daddy, that was mean of you to say that!
Jacob: What?!? What did I say? Meanwhile, we are all trying to mentally go through the conversation to figure out what was said!
Me: Light bulb forming over head...OH! I think he heard you say "micro fracture" and it sounded like you said something Michael! Michael, daddy wasn't talking to you or about you. We're talking about Krista's nose! Who knows what else his brain is thinking...!
Michael: But it was still mean of daddy! Ummmm....okay now. I'm thinking he's got some unresolved anger issues...!
Jacob: Why do I always get blamed for things I didn't do by my children?!? Duh. You signed up for it when you became a parent!!! In the Parenting Handbook Section U R #1, it clearly states, "Parents, in particularly dads, will be blamed for any lost items, broken things or misplaced TV remotes with the sentence beginning with Daddy did it... whether they're in the vicinity or not!"
Your children are listening. That was not intended to be a threat but a gentle reminder instead! My very wise friend Nancy B. told me how she underlined and put a symbol by all the verses in Proverbs pertaining to our mouths/words/lips and also on verses on women. I loved the idea so much that I told Nancy she inspired me to do the same! I think I'm only on chapter 7 and I've been drawing little red lips by the verses about speaking, our lips, etc and I've been drawing the little scientific symbol for females on verses pertaining to women. Those colored pencils for my Hebrews Precepts Bible Study are such getting a lot of use! I'm blown away by how many verses I've been marking up so far!
Words are important! As parents, our words have the power to lift up our children or tear them down. Growing up, the words and phrases, "You're so stupid," "You can't find anything even though you have four eyes," "Mook tow (wooden head)," "choon dat (stupid one)," "choon jee (stupid pig)," "syl gwy tow (bad devil head)," etc. were used quite frequently in anger on a daily basis. The ramifications on hearing those insults all the time were devastating to my fragile self esteem---especially as I was going through my "ugly" and awkward years. Which I might add seemed to last forever!
I'm thankful I grew up in that environment now because I understand and appreciate how our words can affect and effect our children and those around. Those are definitely taboo words and phrases in our home and I pray that our children will grow up in an encouraging and insult-free environment!
In Proverbs 18:21, the NLT puts it this way, "The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences."
Use your words to bring life and healing from this day forward, okay?
