Giggling

Nicole has a good friend named America (her mom is from El Salvador and her dad is from Mexico) who lives around the corner from us. They met in preschool two years ago and have play dates as often as possible. Over the last couple of years I’ve also become close friends with America’s mom, Sandra. The other day I realized we hadn’t seen them in a long time and so we invited America to spend the day with us.

After lunch Nicole and America watched a movie while Allyson took a nap. I was upstairs and knew when the movie was over because I could hear lots of giggling downstairs. It was so cute. After a little while the girls came upstairs and I said I’d heard a lot of giggling. They started laughing again and, innocently, I asked, “What was all that giggling about?” I was expecting to hear a funny story or something so I was completely surprised when America pointed at Nicole and said, “It was her idea.” Then Nicole started running away in tears and said, “I don’t want to tell you.” Uh Oh. I was not expecting this.

I coaxed Nicole back and held her as she sobbed. She said she was scared to tell me. My dread grew. What could they have been doing down there?! I assured Nicole I understood she was afraid but I also explained how we want our hearts to feel “clean” and so she needed to be brave and tell the truth. After much crying and hesitation she agreed and told me they had been talking “potty talk.” Okay. I needed a little more information. "What words were you using?" Oh, man. Her tears turned into heaving sobs. My mind began racing as I thought of the raunchiest words in the English (and Spanish, for that matter) language. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I just couldn’t imagine my sweet little 5-year-old girl saying those things! Where did she learn them? Certainly not from America who is just as sweet! (America, by the way, just sat staring and listening to this entire interaction.)

Nicole just couldn’t seem to get the words out. I explained that she might need to be punished but, again, it’s important to keep our hearts “clean” and she would need to tell me what she said. I asked her to be brave again. Meanwhile I was silently praying. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle what she was going to tell me! Finally, and I do mean finally, she agreed. With a shaky voice and through her tears she eeked out the words, “I said poop!” Then she fell onto my shoulder and began to wail.

This is the point where all of my parental restraint came into play. In that moment, every last bit of energy I had was focused on keeping my cheeks from breaking into a smile which wanted to lead into a fit of laughter and relief. 

I composed myself. “You said poop?”

“Yes!!!” More wailing.

“Did you say anything else?”

“I said pee once!” Back onto my shoulder went her sad little face. Again, with America staring intently, I focused on keeping my composure while thanking God for the innocence of my precious little girl.

After reassuring Nicole that she was loved and getting her to calm down we had a short talk about what God says about the tongue. It went something like this:

“The Bible says our tongues are really tough to control! They like to say naughty things and eat things that are not good for our bodies … even big people have a really tough time controlling their tongues!”

Nicole replied, “Yeah, I don’t like my tongue.”

“But our tongues can also be used for good things like saying nice things to people and making their hearts feel happy. Or for praising God. And He promises if a person can learn to control our tongue they can do just about anything!"

After our talk we had a time of apology and hugs and I asked if she felt better now that she didn’t have a naughty secret in her heart.

“Yeah,” she agreed. And for the next thirty minutes or more she was so full of energy and happiness I could literally not calm her down. In fact, I think she did finally end up being reprimanded…for that!

What an experience for this mom! Dear God, please help my little girl to make good choices in life. And when she doesn’t, may she confess them to you quickly and to her parents. And, please, please, please, give us wisdom in training her.