The chest pain imagined by my three-year-old second son.

At dinner, my second son said he "hated" a certain friend.
It's okay to feel that way.

But I told him, you mustn't say that to your friend.
How would you feel, my son, if someone said they hated you?

You'd be sad, right?
Let's try not to use words that would make you sad if someone said them to you.

I said this in a calm tone.
Tears welled up in my son's eyes instantly.
His mouth trembled and turned downward.

Even so, he looked straight into my eyes,
and gave a small, firm nod.


Ah, it got through to him.
A mother's intuition told me so.


These tears weren't from being scolded and feeling sad.
They were tears from imagining the pain of being told those words.

He is only three.
I'm sure he will make mistakes many times from here on out.

Even so, I will keep telling him over and over.
Because I believe that the words you choose
will shape who you become.

I, too, often choose the wrong words.
Even so, I have a "me I want to be" as well.
Today, once again, together with my children,
I will choose my words.