I promised myself I would not employ that phrase in my maternal vocabulary. I told my naivety it is only fair to a child to give her a good reason for whatever you were wanting her to do. I assumed it would only take a little imagination and creativity to come up with sufficient answers to the inevitable challenges to my authority.And then somehow, somewhere, someone (obviously inspired by the devil himself) said the phrase, "But, whyyyyyyyy?" around my verbal little copy-cat sponge. With a little pause and a slight breath after the 'but' and a long and drawn out 'why' with a falling tone, it was the worst possible combination of two words for her to overhear.
Would you just please observe a moment of silence for me?
While I have not yet broken my promise, I am running out of anything else to say. I mean, who can come up with 7 answers to 'butwhy' in 120 seconds? I am NOT exaggerating.
I have tried the following:
"What are you talking about?"
"That doesn't make any sense at all?"
"What did you say? Is that English?"
"Blah, blah, blah, blah"
"Because the sky will fall down on you if you don't"
"Because the monster in the disposal will come out and eat you"
"Because you will turn into a frog"
"Because, because, because, because, because.....because of the wonderful things he does"
(OK, I've only used first half, but I have thought the rest.)
What would you say? But, why?
(This post is part of Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos.)
