I hate HATE

A new word has entered W's vocabulary this week: Hate. As in...

"I hate you in this bathroom, Mom."
"I hate going to bed."
"I hate this."
"I hate everything."

It's been a fun week. The first time he used it was when I was trying to convince him to climb into the bath (I still can't lift him due to my appendectomy) and he told me that he hated me in the bathroom. Not that he hated me, just hated the fact that I was in the bathroom at that moment. Huh? He's too sensitive to say that he hates me, yet he's smart enough to know how to get a reaction.

I thought about ignoring it, but couldn't. So, I asked where he heard that word. I don't like to use it and hardly ever do. Matt is much more likely to say it about silly things like a piece of clothing, a cabinet door, a remote that isn't working, but he has really tried to curb it lately.

Then I asked whether he knew what it meant... "Yes, it means to really, really not like something." 

I know kids play with language, test their boundaries, push buttons... I really do. But, I can't allow him to make this part of his dialogue, teach it to other kids at preschool, and not realize that there are boundaries with language.

So, now I am taking a super hero figure each time he says he hates something. So far I have one and his response was: "I don't care. I don't even like that one, it's old."

This should go really well.