strong words

in our house, there two categorizations of words that are off limits.
first, there are "bad/swear words."  
these are the standards that would be acknowledged by most english-speakers as the kinds of words you don't want your children to run around using.
then there are "strong words."
these are words that are not actually considered foul language, but those that bern and i designate as ones that we don't want anth and ben to walk around using casually.
they include things like hate, kill, etc.
as in, "you probably don't hate Sally, but you might not like the choice she just made."

anth, being our rule-abider, is pretty diligent about not using words that fall into both of these categories.
he also continues to be diligent about reminding me when i do.
usually this happens after stubbing a toe, dropping something, or on the road.

this morning, we were watching the news about the earthquake in New Zealand while getting ready.
today was also my day to take the boys to school in the morning.
on the way in, i was tinkering around with the radio and left it on a news station that was talking about the quake and the protests in Libya.
after a few minutes, anth politely requested that we listen to music instead.
"mom, today the news has way too many strong words for me... and it's just kind of sad."

true story, anth.

ben?
"yeah, and it's bo-wing."
ben is nothing if not honest.