A friend and I were texting about how we were avoiding our children at bedtime when I discovered a certain family vernacular:
Then another friend shared her own spin on the name for her kids’ noise:
This was like learning how people in different parts of the world use their own phrases to describe soda, or athletic shoes, or water fountains.
In the name of linguistics, if your children, at whatever age, occasionally express themselves in a way that one ordinary word doesn’t quite cover, what do you call it in your household?
Due to her deep and abiding affection for Dinosaur Train from 2 to 6 years old, we usually call it “Raaawk”ing because the parent Pteranadons tell their kids to stay in “raawking distance” and to “raawk” If they need them. (And yes I called them parent pteranodons instead of dinosaurs because pterasaurs are not dinosaurs as I have been told half a million times, especially the two years she was dressed as one at Halloween at age 3 and 4 and said “No” very crossly every time someone asked her if she was a dinosaur.)
Dinosaur Train! There is a tunnel we drive through with some frequency and still say “Time Tunnel approaching” even though our DT days are looooong over.
I find myself singing "once upon a time, there was a mom..." very frequently and my kids haven't watched that show in years. That theme song is a BOP I said what I said.
It IS a bop!! I know it is because my husband who is constitutionally incapable of retaining lyrics to songs, actually has retained some of the lyrics!!
Hahaha my 5yo is currently deep into pteranodons and plesiosaurs and mosasaurs and will "THEY'RE NOT DINOSAURS" the shit out of the uninitiated. Solidarity!
I love this. My older son refused to watch anything but Dinosaur Train for at least two years. We had the Dinosaur A to Z lyrics printed on the back of the toilet when we potty trained him.
When the toddler wakes up, cries for a brief moment and falls back asleep, she’s squawking or having a little squawk. Just a squawk is good because it means no intervention is necessary.
When we get the litany of complaints for any situation, we call it the "airing of grievances"—obvs my kid learned from the best, his kvetching mom, descended from a long line of them.
ha! there have been a few times in my parenting life where someone asked "are the kids uncomfortable/sad/bored?" and I always say they are not ones to suffer in silence--they'll let us know.
I'm late to this but this is such a great term. I need to get over it. My son did that to me the other day when I was not in a good headspace and I was like "What? What? You got something to say? SAY IT!! It's the SHIT TALK that's not doing it for me!" Next time I'm going to say "It's chuntering."
My kids are 8 and 10 now and I desperately need a cute name for the terrible back seat fighting after school…I may workshop the “screamies” for that because it is most certainly ruining my life
not related to naming the screaming but it can be so hard to show up with a good attitude at pickup when you know you're about to collect a handful of crabby crumbs
Weird bonus of my particular kid’s neurodiversity=very limited screeching or screaming. We do however get singing. All. Day. Long. Can’t sleep? He sings. Car ride? He sings. Mama won’t turn on tv? Sings. He has been starting to inch into more typical crying which is probably a good thing developmentally but I’ll miss the singing.
my older son is a headbanger still at age 11 so we are used to hearing a weird droning noise from his room when he's trying to get to sleep. In a weird way it's sweet to me now. I'm sure when we're old we'll be like where is the thumping and humming?
We call this "Problems!" and then my husband plays this youtube video of a Nascar announcer saying "problems!" in seven hundred different ways https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKzAbV9rAgA
Husband also has an app with a sound board and will play one of the sad trombone, fail buzzer, or another fun one. Wow we live in a very sound effects-based household
that is adorable. I feel like it's been a weird week for husbands writ large given the cultural zeitgeist so cute stories about men being good dads seem to carry extra value.
My kids are past the screamies (love it) but they do the “doom spiral” or “spiraling” when they are stressed about something and just start going down, down, down to a place of no return….
i am trying my current strategy of “do not engage! i repeat do not engage!”. i just try to “hmmm, uh huh” which is super difficult for me bc i am not a spiraler (new word) or a dweller…i am a fixer…and they are not wanting to fix, they want to wallow…
i will say that the do not engage works for the first 30 min and then i lose my shit….😂😂
This makes me think about how my dad would blow me off when I was little and I would spiral and ruminate at bedtime. I would never be that uncaring! Cut to me now when I am so out of gas at 8 PM I am so cold and uncaring I can't believe it. Can't stop thinking about death? That's too bad but just do it quietly and don't bother me about it (I am not quite THAT cold. The dad is much nicer than me so someone is there to rub his back.)
seriously, why is it always at night when i am so desperate for two minutes to myself. i’m all like, close your eyes, take deep breaths….while i back out of the room and hope you fall asleep
We say nuclear. As in, she’s gone nuclear. I’m not sure it’s cute but it helps me categorize yelling/ screaming/ fighting/ melting down as “science” which makes the most sense to my logical brain.
It has me thinking about the Chernobyl series, so many rods and heating and cooling. I hope you have a sturdy remote control robot you can send in when you need.
In the space between my oldest learning to talk and only being able to coo or cry, they would babble-yell when upset. My husband dubbed it baby profanity. “Get me out of this wet onesie, em-effers! Give me that thing I’m reaching for, dumb sh+ts!” Very confident yelling while making no actual discernible English words = baby profanity.
I call it "sound terrorism."
haha perfect.
Welp, that is it, you win comments.
Due to her deep and abiding affection for Dinosaur Train from 2 to 6 years old, we usually call it “Raaawk”ing because the parent Pteranadons tell their kids to stay in “raawking distance” and to “raawk” If they need them. (And yes I called them parent pteranodons instead of dinosaurs because pterasaurs are not dinosaurs as I have been told half a million times, especially the two years she was dressed as one at Halloween at age 3 and 4 and said “No” very crossly every time someone asked her if she was a dinosaur.)
raaawk on with your bad self girlie
Dinosaur Train! There is a tunnel we drive through with some frequency and still say “Time Tunnel approaching” even though our DT days are looooong over.
Oooh this is the part that will live forever with us too!
I find myself singing "once upon a time, there was a mom..." very frequently and my kids haven't watched that show in years. That theme song is a BOP I said what I said.
It IS a bop!! I know it is because my husband who is constitutionally incapable of retaining lyrics to songs, actually has retained some of the lyrics!!
Hahaha my 5yo is currently deep into pteranodons and plesiosaurs and mosasaurs and will "THEY'RE NOT DINOSAURS" the shit out of the uninitiated. Solidarity!
Yup yes.
I love this. My older son refused to watch anything but Dinosaur Train for at least two years. We had the Dinosaur A to Z lyrics printed on the back of the toilet when we potty trained him.
A apatosaurus b brachiosaurus I hate that I know this (its time for the chorus hey hey hey come along with me. . .)
He will never remember it and I will have that damned song stuck in my head til the day I die!
When the toddler wakes up, cries for a brief moment and falls back asleep, she’s squawking or having a little squawk. Just a squawk is good because it means no intervention is necessary.
just a little squawk! nothing to see here.
When we get the litany of complaints for any situation, we call it the "airing of grievances"—obvs my kid learned from the best, his kvetching mom, descended from a long line of them.
ha! there have been a few times in my parenting life where someone asked "are the kids uncomfortable/sad/bored?" and I always say they are not ones to suffer in silence--they'll let us know.
We call this "chuntering". It's usually an under her breath grumble that you will regret paying any attention to.
I'm late to this but this is such a great term. I need to get over it. My son did that to me the other day when I was not in a good headspace and I was like "What? What? You got something to say? SAY IT!! It's the SHIT TALK that's not doing it for me!" Next time I'm going to say "It's chuntering."
We call it "the screamies" ...in a vain hope a diminutive name will lessen its power to ruin lives
My kids are 8 and 10 now and I desperately need a cute name for the terrible back seat fighting after school…I may workshop the “screamies” for that because it is most certainly ruining my life
not related to naming the screaming but it can be so hard to show up with a good attitude at pickup when you know you're about to collect a handful of crabby crumbs
that's adorable in a weird way
Weird bonus of my particular kid’s neurodiversity=very limited screeching or screaming. We do however get singing. All. Day. Long. Can’t sleep? He sings. Car ride? He sings. Mama won’t turn on tv? Sings. He has been starting to inch into more typical crying which is probably a good thing developmentally but I’ll miss the singing.
my older son is a headbanger still at age 11 so we are used to hearing a weird droning noise from his room when he's trying to get to sleep. In a weird way it's sweet to me now. I'm sure when we're old we'll be like where is the thumping and humming?
We call this "Problems!" and then my husband plays this youtube video of a Nascar announcer saying "problems!" in seven hundred different ways https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKzAbV9rAgA
Husband also has an app with a sound board and will play one of the sad trombone, fail buzzer, or another fun one. Wow we live in a very sound effects-based household
that is adorable. I feel like it's been a weird week for husbands writ large given the cultural zeitgeist so cute stories about men being good dads seem to carry extra value.
My kids are past the screamies (love it) but they do the “doom spiral” or “spiraling” when they are stressed about something and just start going down, down, down to a place of no return….
i am trying my current strategy of “do not engage! i repeat do not engage!”. i just try to “hmmm, uh huh” which is super difficult for me bc i am not a spiraler (new word) or a dweller…i am a fixer…and they are not wanting to fix, they want to wallow…
i will say that the do not engage works for the first 30 min and then i lose my shit….😂😂
This makes me think about how my dad would blow me off when I was little and I would spiral and ruminate at bedtime. I would never be that uncaring! Cut to me now when I am so out of gas at 8 PM I am so cold and uncaring I can't believe it. Can't stop thinking about death? That's too bad but just do it quietly and don't bother me about it (I am not quite THAT cold. The dad is much nicer than me so someone is there to rub his back.)
seriously, why is it always at night when i am so desperate for two minutes to myself. i’m all like, close your eyes, take deep breaths….while i back out of the room and hope you fall asleep
my son asked me if he could sleep with me the other night; I said maybe on your birthday as your present.
We say nuclear. As in, she’s gone nuclear. I’m not sure it’s cute but it helps me categorize yelling/ screaming/ fighting/ melting down as “science” which makes the most sense to my logical brain.
It has me thinking about the Chernobyl series, so many rods and heating and cooling. I hope you have a sturdy remote control robot you can send in when you need.
We call it screeching! My 7 yo mostly says his brother’s name in a very exasperated tone but I like fatigue screaming as a description!
In the space between my oldest learning to talk and only being able to coo or cry, they would babble-yell when upset. My husband dubbed it baby profanity. “Get me out of this wet onesie, em-effers! Give me that thing I’m reaching for, dumb sh+ts!” Very confident yelling while making no actual discernible English words = baby profanity.
Fatigue Screaming is GENIUS.