I H--- you!

Jackson has been using this special phrase against his sister a lot lately. I believe he learned it from his cousins over the summer, although, I can't say I ever really heard them saying that. He just began using it on the way home so I put two and two together. Anyway, this is, of course, unacceptable. Hate is not a word we say in this house; at least not being used in that way toward a family member, but who is going to go into detail with that? After trying several methods over the past month to rid him of his potty mouth, we landed on the soap method. At first I thought not even this would work, although I really put soap in his mouth. He would willing stick it in his mouth and leave it there for five seconds and then walk away like it was no big deal. However, we chose to stick with it. On the evening of the third day, he was really testing his boundaries. After we put the kids to bed, Jack stood next to the door and had to go in five times to put soap in his mouth for telling Emma over and over again that he hated her jewelry box. Dumb, I know, but he was testing his limits so he got what we'd been telling him. So he is finally screaming and not impressed with what's going on and after a few minutes Emma blurts out "Jackson, stop screaming. I hate it." Of course we all wanted to say that, but what could we do? So on that nanosecond that you have to think about it, Jack said "uh-oh! Alright Emma, come into the bathroom." Emma had never had that choice experience before and she was so sad. We felt horrible, but had to follow through with what we had been saying. Needless to say, I went in a few minutes later and re-iterated that we should never say that word and if they ever caught mom or dad then they would put soap in our mouths, too. The next day, Jackson heard me say it and got to put soap in my mouth. He liked my reaction enough that he asked me to say it again.