Thursday, August 10, 2006

What Must You Say?

I've been trying to teach Zara to use the right 'magic' word like Please, Welcome, Sorry, Thank You for different situations. Here is how she uses it. When she starts shouting for something she wants, like chocolate ice cream. Me : Zara, what must you say? Zara : *stops her shouting* Kakak, please, cho-koh-lat ice cream please. Me : *after Tuyam has given her*, what must you say now? Zara : Thank you Kakak. Watching Barney, and she started jumping on the sofa full of excitement. Me : Zara cannot jump yeah. If you jumped, mummy will turn off the TV. Zara : *stopped jumping for a mere 15second, then resumed jumping* Me : Zara, what did mummy say? Cannot jump yeah. Or else mummy turn off the TV. Zara : *ignored me and continued with the dangerous stunt* Me : *turned off TV* Zara : *shocked, looked at me, and then quickly came over to hug me* So sorry mummy, so sorry. So sorry. I never taught her how to say 'so sorry' before, but I guess I'd used it on her before when I accidentally bumped her head or ate the last piece of chocolate. Half way through dinner, Zara pushed the spoon away when Tuyam attempted to feed her. Me : Zara, what did mummy say? It's rude to push the spoon away. Zara : Thank you kakak. Kakak Please. Zara pao pao (Chinese : Full). Welcome. Aiks, I taught her to say, "No thank you kakak. Zara pao pao already." instead of pushing her spoon away, and this is how she said it. When she sneezed. Me : Bless you. Oops, you forgot to say something. Zara : Excuse me. Welcome. Conclusion, she knows when to use Sorry, Thank you, Please, but still confused about when to use Welcome, but she knows it's a nice word to use. :P

26 comments:

Egghead said...

well... welcome is always a nice words to say... she should say it more :)

blurblur said...

So cute lah, your Zara..

I am still repeating this "what must you say" to Damien every now and then...children, you just need to drill them over and over again until it gets into their head..;)

Robin CHAN said...

hmmm,,, the magic word will prob expand to more and more..

until it lost its' magic.

domestic rat said...

Hey! She knows how to apologise. That's really neat.

L B said...

Aiyah, I skipped past Tesco this morning on the way back from Ipoh, so no frozen duck liao! How?!! *sob*

Ange said...

Wow! I'm impressed! She learns so fast at her age.

IMMomsDaughter said...

My girl is also able to use the other words except Welcome. Sometimes Thank You is used instead of Welcome :(

ZMM said...

Egghead,
Must also know when to say and when not to mah. Scared after she meets LL, she kept telling him “Welcome welcome” send the wrong signal ler. :P

Blurblur,
Yes.. that’s what I’m trying to do.. drill drill drill, until she also confused. :P

Robin,
Yeah.. and it’ll be used every so loosely.

Domestic Rat,
But she doesn’t really feel ‘sorry’.. sigh.. wonder when she’ll understand the responsibility that comes with the word.

LB,
Too bad.. Ask Helen to courier you one.. :P

Earthember,
Oh thank you.

Immomsdaugther,
I think welcome is a bit confusing huh?

LHS said...

Haha..can decipher like this :
She said welcome when she is full, it means "I'm full now, welcome you feed me again later on"

She said welcome after she sneezed, it means "Welcome to make me sneeze again"

Haha...i'm mistreating the true meaning of welcome already!

Lin Peh said...

You notchet teach her all the Lin Peh language ah ? She good enough for those liao ! LOL!

sesame said...

I noticed that she's rather well mannered even from your previous posts. My Gavin refuses to use those magic words. When he uses it, he'll utter it softly (for please), or unwillingly (for sorry). He'll only say excuse me properly like when he sneezes.

Ms One Boobie said...

We teach Chloe to say "please" & "thank you" a long time ago.. but it was until her 2nd birthday.. that she used it more constantly.
Zara is really well-taught. What a good mummy she has.. ;)

Mother Superior said...

Good on you to teach Zara all the right words. One thing I've taught the girls is to answer the question, "How are you?". The standard answer is, "I;m fine. Thank you." Somehow, they use that for most questions until people wonder if they know what they are saying.

By the way, remembering you in anticipation of amnio results.

jazzmint said...

wah so nice she can differentiate and use at the right time. Mine says please all the time even though when she's not supposed to

荦怡 said...

Zara is so clever!
i can only say Good night, 再见、谢谢。
:(

chartao said...

well, at least zara is using it already, practice makes prefect.

she'll prefect those "magic words" real soon! :)

no worries!

Gene Lim said...

well done mummy! U did a great job :)

Princess Mom said...

Welcome is a tough one. Harvynna says, Thank you-welcome all the time!

ZMM said...

Hui Sia,
Hmmm.. looks like mummy Hui Sia also need to learn when to use welcome.. Hahah..

Lin Peh,
She’s only 20months old la. Give her a chance to grow nicely can or not? Why want to corrupt her mind so fast?

Sesame,
Maybe Gavin is shy. He seems to know when to use it, but not saying it out loud.

Mamabok,
That’s good for Chloe.

Mother Superior,
Haha.. your girls are cute. Hmm.. I must teach Zara to say “I’m fine Thank You” as well.
Thanks for your thoughts.. Yes, I’m also waiting for the results. At least now almost a week has passed.

Jasmine,
Faythe is eager to please mah.

荦怡,
You can say those in Chinese, it’s quite good already. Hmm.. In Chinese there’s no ‘please’ right?

Leonard,
Yes, I hope so too, that she’ll master them soon. :)

Gene,
Thank you.

Michelle,
Aaah.. Barney is a good teacher. Zara learnt lots from him too. A universal teacher in household huh?

Hmom,
Yeah, welcome is tough.

Sasha Tan said...

I think she learn it from Barney. There's this song about please and thank you and all the different different words for different purpose.

ANyway, She's SOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!

seefei said...

good good.. this will make the 1st chapter of the 36 chapter of sun tzu art of war.

"diplomacy through the use of appropiate language" ahahahah....

tenkiu for reading my humble comment!!

must teach zara to differentiate welcome with vanakum also!!

shoppingmum said...

She's so polite! You did a good job in teaching her to have good manners. Well done mommy!

13th Panda said...

AWWW, i'm so impressed when zara hugged u to apologised when u shut off the tv after she wouldn't stop jumping on the sofa.

You taught her well. As least now she had a good foundation, after a few more practice..zara will be a very polite girl!

Helen said...

Yes, it's important to instill the sense of courtesy in a small child. I've seen enuff young brats to know they're plain rude. Some kids even yelled at their maid calling them "bodoh". Worst, I've seen some using the "b" word on their grandparents.

I say you're doing a great job bringing Zara up! lol

Flowsnow said...

she is so sweet and polite. If only my boys will be so polite to me.

Allyfeel said...

Sometimes zara just amazed me with her ability. She is very smart. It's good that she is practicing all these courtesies and manners.