Don’t Make Me Come Up There

Yesterday I offered up a confession: when communicating with my kids, I am now using some of the phrases my parents used. It’s true. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I don’t seem to have any control over it.

So I threw the question out there to the readers – what lines do you remember your parents using?  And the response was overwhelming. These are just a few that came in:

1. “Don’t make me turn this car around!” (Brenda Boitson via yesterday’s comments)

2. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” This is actually used more by my kids. I am not, and have never been, a big breakfast fan. Usually I get by on nothing. Or maybe a glass of milk. But my older two are always happy to remind me, when I come back in the house for an early lunch (at around 10:00am) that if I had eaten breakfast, the most important meal of the day, I’d last until the real lunch time.

3. “Don’t make me come up there!” Or back there. Or down there. This one can be adapted to just about any location on the planet. Or in the afterlife.

4. “I’m not so-and-so’s parents” – (in response to, “but so-and-so’s parents let him do such and such) (Ken Mueller via yesterday’s comments)

5. “What do you say?” This ambiguous questions is usually greeted by an equally ambiguous stare.

Someone gives one of my younger children something nice.

“What do you say?” I ask, eyebrows raised.

Blank stare.

“What do you say?” I ask again, nudging them, nodding my head.

Silence.

“Say thank you,” I hiss.

“Thank you,” they say, relieved.

6. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.” Usually accompanied with an I’m-looking-at-you-out-of-the-corner-of-my-eye stare and the equally threatening eyebrow raise.

7. “This too shall pass.” (Sara Eiser via Twitter) This one sounds like it may have been used for the last several hundred years (due of course to the presence of the word “shall”), but I can vouch that it is alive and well in the postmodern parenting generation.

8. “‘Can I just have 2 minutes of peace and quiet, please?’ – the answer is never yes.” (Bryan Allain via yesterday’s comments)

9. “You better hope I don’t get to 10! 1…2…3…” (Susan Zeamer via yesterday’s comments)

10. “When I was your age . . .” (Kevin via yesterday’s comments)

Honorable Mentions:

“This is the world’s smallest violin playing just for you” – said while parent rubs thumb and forefinger together (Chris Hall via Twitter)

“Go ask your mother” – (Mrs. Mickle via Twitter)

“To thine own self be true” (Sara Eiser via Twitter) – hmmm, another one with an old-fashioned word in it…Sara’s really sweatin’ to the oldies.

“If you keep slingin’ mud at the wall, something will eventually stick.” (Melody Kittles via Twitter)

Just about all of these folks left multiple suggestions, all just as funny as these, so head back to yesterday’s post and check out the comments.

Phew. I’ve never used so many “via”s in my entire life. It’s tiring.

For more Top 10 fun, check out these posts:

Top 10 Reasons Costco Gets Away With Charging Me To Shop There

Top 10 Stalling Tactics My Children Use At Bedtime

Top 10 Quotes on Writing EVER

 

4 Replies to “Don’t Make Me Come Up There”

  1. LOL I use number 6 and number 10 but number 10 has been modified to fit our family. We’re a home school family so I modify it to fit that. It is amazing how the ‘something that sticks’ is usually the phrase(s) you heard the most when growing up. LOL

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