Melinda Beth

As I finished up the last minute cleaning before our babysitter arrived, Emily started acting out. She stuck her tongue out at David. In a voice to make sure Emily could hear, David asked me, "What should the punishment be for sticking a tongue out?"

I was standing at the kitchen sink and my eye caught a glimpse of the dish soap. I reply, "Soap in the mouth?"

"What does the label say?", David inquired.

The label read, "Keep out of the reach of children. If swallowed, drink a glass of water to dilute."

"Doesn't sound dangerous to me," I said. As long as there were no skull and crossbones or warning to call a physician, I felt we were safe. It was probably safer than the silica gel packets the Emily and Bradley ate when they were younger. I gave Emily the choice of the blue Dawn, yellow Joy, or pink grapefruit scented dish soap. Of course she protested the whole situation, so I chose the pink one. She likes pink and it smelled the most food-like. With a look of terror in her eye she cried and begged as I dabbed my finger with a pea-sized drop of soap that I was going to wipe on her tongue. David and I had very different envisions of our new punishment tactic. He envisioned tilting her head back and squeezing the bottle into her mouth. But since we gave her no warning, I decided to forgo the punishment altogether and simply warn and make clear that from now on soap on the tongue would be the punishment for sticking a tongue out. She repented and was grateful for my leniency.

Shortly after, Miss Rachael arrived and as she entered she playfully stuck her tongue out at Emily.