from the mouths of babes

With the addition of a third child seat to our minivan, Hannah and Sam have been banished to the back bench seat. The reason being two-fold: Josh's seat has to be easily accessible from the side door, but if one of the child seats was next to Josh, battle lines would be drawn for a daily fight. Second, with both of the talking children in the far back, Sarah and I might enjoy conversation with fewer interruptions (in theory, at least).

This has led to Hannah and Sam conversing more directly with each other in the car. This morning as we drove to church, I heard them begin to discuss the merits and flaws of a certain coloring book that had been placed in the church bag. Hannah succinctly expressed her opinion of said coloring book.

"I hate that book."

Sam, remembering a recent scolding, shot back with:

"Hannah, don't say 'hate'!"

Realizing his lack of power over his sister, he found the need to cite a higher authority. I expected a 'Daddy said' or even better 'Mommy said,' but no, he went straight for the ace of spades:

"Or Jesus will kill you."

Sam had recently become obsessed with Jesus. This is a good thing, I think. At a recent family gathering, aunts and grandparents asked him repeatedly to rattle off his list of Jesus facts, some learned, some invented. Giggles would always follow Sam's new bits of doctrine. That was cute, but I felt the need to intervene now:

"Sam, that's not true, Jesus will not kill you."

And realizing the need for clarity:

"or Hannah"

But still wanting the previous lesson to stick:

"But saying 'hate' is still bad, just not quite that bad."

Hopefully the threat of a punishment other than death will be sufficient to shape behavior.

Edit: For more Gospel According to Sam, visit Julia's blog (Richard's sister)