When teaching your toddler manners...

...be very careful!!

We have always been careful to teach Laila her manners, such as pleases and thank yous, so much so that sometimes she will ask for something and if I happen not to have heard her the first time, I might say "what's that Laila?" she will then say "please" thinking I am waiting for the "magic word".  So I then try to rephrase my question so that she will repeat her original request and all I get is "please", "please", "thank-you", "please"...

"MUMMY I SAID PLEASE" and a tantrum may start so I will never know what she actually wanted until Daddy turns up and she tells him "Daddy, Mummy wouldn't give me my crayons (or whatever it was)"!

More recently, Laila has been trying out the word "What?" in response to what I have said to her. 

So I immediately informed her that we don't say "what" we say "pardon".

Well, she has been correcting herself each time she says "what" and replacing it with pardon, result! 

Or not....

I am now getting questions such as:

Mummy, what, I mean, pardon did you buy at the shop?

Mummy, pardon is it?

The poor little thing looks a bit confused as she tries to remember to use pardon, and I can tell she's not sure if it's right! I'm not quite sure how to explain that she can still use "what" in questions but not as a response to me! I didn't want to immediately put her off using Pardon.

She hasn't yet started doing it in French, so we might have the same problem of her replacing "quoi" with "comment". 

What, I mean, Pardon, have I done?!!!