Beware Your Small Children

You already know to be careful what you say around them. But what you do can also come back to bite you. As in the time I innocently asked a little girl next door how her mother was, and the five-year-old replied, "Well, right now she's in her room with the door locked, which probably means she has stress. Or else migraine."

My daughter's friend was mortified last week when her kindergartner came home with the picture she had drawn to share with the class. It showed Mommy and Daddy in the shower.

Hint for teachers and neighbors: Just do not say a single word. Anything whatsoever you say is apt to be quoted back to the parents, or worse yet, misquoted to them.