“I can’t do a cartwheel.”  My daughter puts her hands down and kicks her feet up, before slumping to the ground.

“Maybe someone can show you and then you can practice,”  I say.

“Can you do cartwheels?”  She adds that hopeful lilt at the end.

“Nope, but Daddy can.”

Her eyebrow juts up.  She has the quizzical look down cold. “Daddy can do cartwheels?”

“Yup.” Starting at a very young age, her daddy was forced through the gauntlet of sports. Including gymnastics.

“But he is a boy and soo old!”

Happy father’s day.

Ever notice how different families tend to have a different motto they lived by. It was the phrase they said when things got tough or talking about someone else having a hard time.

I grew up at the intersection of ‘It is what it is’ and ‘it could be worse’.

I never really thought about what they really meant until I had kids. I started listening to some of the phrases I said.  I wondered which ones my kids would remember.

Here are the top phrases used in my household

1. If it is sticky and not yours, don’t eat it.
2. It’s good to want
3. Would you like it if someone did <insert kid action here> to you? (example: Would you like it if someone farted in your face?)
4. What happens if you guys fight over something? – Mama takes it away.
5. No one wants to see your butt.
6. After someone is crying about a minor injury – Should we cut it off?

What phrases or mottos do you use?

My 6 year-old daughter was in tears. “He called me a bad name.”

“What did he call you?” Referring to the red headed four-year old that held on to my shirt.

“A chandelier,” she said.

Well, that shed some light on the argument.