Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Well...that was a poor choice of words....

I don't like Chickie to stand on the end of my grocery cart, or in front of it, because she ends up stopping, and then I bump her with the cart--not fun. It's even more important at Costco, with their industrial-sized carts.

So when we were at Costco on Saturday and Chickie stood in front of my cart, I said, "Chickie, if you keep standing there, I'm gonna hit you, and it's gonna hurt!"

Immediately I realized that what I meant as a warning about a cart/preschooler crash, sounded more like an "I'm gonna whoop ya" threat. Oops. I glanced around to see if any observant shoppers or CPS investigators were watching us, and even though no one was paying attention, I quickly tried to save face. "I mean, I'm accidentally going to hit you with the cart. And that would hurt. So don't stand there."

Whew. Escaped the dire effects of foot-in-mouth syndrome. This time.

12 comments:

Call Me Cate said...

At least you didn't say you were going to freaking hit her.

Things can be so easily taken out of context. It's very scary because it seems like it doesn't take much to send up a red flag these days.

Eternal Lizdom said...

Ha! I've been in the EXACT same situation with Teagan!!

Kara said...

Ha! I'm sure we've all been there, said that :-)

MarjnHomer said...

at least you corrected yourself and no one ws paying attention.

Unknown said...

the media does this all the time as do politicians. It can be a nightmare, I was watching Oprah, yes, sorry about a young girl who is in prison and they trialed her by media and everything she did was taken out of context including her posts on FB. How sad. They had no evidence either, no blood, fingerprints just her taken out of context words here and there.

Hyla said...

Oh yeah I totally would have used that wording, but I would not have worried about someone hearing. If other parents heard you, they would totally understand, anyone judging you does not have kids!

Traci said...

I have said stuff like that before too. I just wanted to let ya know that I love reading your blog. :)

Our Scoop said...

So funny!!

Mellodee said...

You didn't say anything different than any mom might have (and probably has!) said. I'm sure the little one knew exactly what you meant!

And yet everybody acts amazed when a public figure says something questionable! We ALL say things that on second thought might be miscontrued, misquoted, misunderstood, and ill-considered. But just the words don't make us into child molesters, or abusers, or monsters!!! Words are just words...and sometimes the wrong ones come out.

It makes me crazy that we all have to worry so much about not only what we do, but also about what we say, and most of all about who hears it!!! We don't have to worry about "Big Brother" anymore. There are plenty of eyes and ears everywhere that are always ready to catch someone in a "gotcha" moment. Arrgghh!!!

(Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now!)

Hannah Nicole said...

Oh, yes, I know EXACTLY what you mean--we've had situations like that at our house. My mom always goes, "wait...oh no...that's not what I meant!"

Blessings,
--Hannah

Dan & Hillary said...

A friend of mine and her daughter were in line at Home Depot and her daughter saw a yard stick and said, "Mommy, that's the biggest spanking stick I've ever seen!!"

My friend almost panicked but the guy in front of her turned around and said, "don't worry, I spanked my kids, too."

Fun times with the kiddos;-)

Anonymous said...

I can just imagine the guilty expression you probably had on your face as you looked around! Hilarious.